Trains

Following the terrible Japanese train disaster last week, newspapers had a number of articles comparing the Japanese rail system to the British system. The most interesting fact was this:

In 2001, 95 percent of Japanese bullet trains (the high-speed, super fast ones) arrived on time. Of those that were late, they were late by an average of 24 seconds. The same year, 78 percent of British trains arrived “on time,” a term meaning less than ten minutes late.