Winter weather: where was the contingency planning?

RAIL 848 reports on the response by Network Rail and the train operating companies to the effects of the severe weather.

Much was achieved in very difficult conditions to minimise the impact, but sadly it seems that contingency planning and risk assessments proved quite inadequate in some instances, leading to unnecessary hardship experienced by trapped and isolated passengers.

Where are the ‘Thunderbirds’ or their equivalent, that used to be strategically placed to rescue failed electric multiple units? Were they axed in a cost-saving exercise?

RAIL 846 carried an informative review of the sad downward spiral in the levels of customer satisfaction with many of our train operating companies. In the same issue, an article for the National Rail Awards urged us to ‘help celebrate UK rail excellence’.

While there are undoubtedly reasons to celebrate the outstanding efforts of those who have achieved great things in the rail industry (as with the Beast from the East), those operators that continue to underperform surely need to be identified through an alternative

RAIL Raspberry Award? There is probably no hope for those operators who no longer pretend they are failing to meet their franchise requirements. But for others, the notion of having to counter potential reputational damage may (just may) spur them to improve performance.

The rail industry needs an upward and sustained level of customer satisfaction if the decline in passenger numbers is to be reversed, and this should be the case given the level of investment in the network and the inevitable annual fare rises. Geoffrey Norris, Eastleigh