Transport Focus chief executive

AFTER a year of misery, rail passengers simply won’t believe today’s announcement that fares are going up again in January by an average of 3.1 per cent!

Alongside significant government investment, passengers pour over £10billion a year into the rail industry. Yet passengers must be wondering when all this cash will translate into a more reliable railway that offers them better value for money.

We welcomed the announcement of swift action by the Office of Road and Rail on Thursday that requires Network Rail to deliver a return to a reliable punctual service. We look forward to seeing a comprehensive plan from Network Rail in February setting out how it will drive this.

In the meantime, passengers should not hesitate to claim “delay repay” compensation wherever it’s due, or to complain when services fall over.

Complaints

Transport Focus offers lots of advice about how to complain effectively on its website. It is also working to ensure passengers learn about the new Rail Ombudsman – a scheme that means at long last the passenger has somewhere to go for a binding resolution for complaints that end in deadlock with the rail operator.

Lastly, Transport Focus will continue to press ministers to switch the way fare rises are calculated away from the Retail Price Index and towards a fairer formula based on the Consumer Price Index.

The Government has ordered a review of the rail industry’s structure. Clearly, the different parts don’t fit together.

Bluntly, public trust in the railway will recover only when a more reliable railway that is better value actually arrives as promised.