Goodwill is essential to deliver better services
TEN days ago was the official start of the new Wales and Borders rail franchise. Despite two days of disruption thanks to Storm Callum and issues with the Welsh-language online service, it has been ushered in with a sense of optimism.
There is much to be excited about. Transport for Wales and its chosen operator, KeolisAmey, will be responsible for operating services for 15 years, and have bold plans backed-up with nearly £5 billion of investment to transform the network.
They promise to invest £800m in new trains; spend £194m to improve the passenger experiences at stations across the Wales and Borders network and have earmarked £738m to modernise the central metro lines, support the next phase of Metro and run more trains every hour.
And these are just the headlines. But it’s not just about getting people from A to B more quickly and comfortably: this is an economic project as much as it is a transport one.
It is estimated that 600 new jobs will be created to deliver the contract. Half of the new trains will be assembled in the Llanwern factory of the Spanish manufacturer CAF, carrying with it all the obvious benefits for the regional job market.
Such is the commitment to Wales that Keolis will move its UK headquarters and its global rail division here, while Amey will also open a new Wales-based design hub.
More than this, the new franchise and the Metro have the potential to be an exemplar for how a grand vision for transport can work handin-hand with a devolved authority to enable wider economic, social and cultural change and redefine the geography of a region.
But the delivery has only just started, and it won’t be until well into KeolisAmey’s 15-year contract that honest judgements can be made on whether the project has realised its true potential, measured on the scale of generational change. And in the meantime, there are more immediate challenges facing those involved in making sure the operation is a success.
KeolisAmey is not the first franchise operator to articulate a grand vision, accompanied by impressive promises concerning new trains, new stations and new investment, and the sceptics will be watching closely.
Change won’t happen overnight, and it will be some time until passengers’ experiences fundamentally alter, which means managing expectations about how quickly the transformation will take place will be a tough ask. Even within the first couple of days of the new franchise, some passengers were quick to take to social media to complain that nothing had really changed.
While delivering an overarching vision is the ultimate objective, the risk is that every infrastructure failure, rolling stock delay, timetable disaster or over-congested commuter service will easily snowball, turning optimism into pessimism and emptying the tank of goodwill that fuels an operation’s relationship with its customers to the limits of its reserve. Before you know it, everyone has forgotten about the grand project.
You only need to look at the news this week, where headlines were dominated by rail-related chaos after a test train damaged 500 metres of overhead power cables near Paddington, to see that, despite best intentions, sometimes things can – and will – go wrong. And it was a similar picture with the deployment of the new ‘IEP’ fleet of UK Government-procured trains, which suffered difficulties from delivery problems and budgetary overspend to a maiden voyage this time last year that was marred by delays, overcapacity and an aircon meltdown.
In transport, and particularly in rail given the political and public scrutiny it attracts, a brand must be alive to the challenges it will face. It has to be resilient, listen closely to its customers and respond quickly and consistently when things go wrong.
It must be backed up by tangible improvements which, once delivered, can eclipse the impact of shortterm problems and ensure the big mission stays on track.
On the back of this, there are a number of core communication take-aways that can be useful for all of us in business – not just those in the rail sector.
Firstly, as with everything in life, it’s important never to over-promise and under-deliver, but build a brand that sees through its commitments and reflects a deep understanding of customers’ needs and expectations.
Secondly, take a thorough approach to crisis planning across a range of scenarios, and establish rigorous mechanisms to prevent problems becoming reputational disasters.
Finally, keep your finger on the pulse. We know from Southern Rail’s experience that brands will live or die by their relationships with customers, and this requires constant monitoring and two-way dialogue.
When the chips are down, whether customers react with anger or understanding, and the extent to which they voice their annoyance through social media or official channels, will often be the most telling indication of that relationship.
The enhancements delivered by the new franchise, backed by the skill and ambition of Transport for Wales and KeolisAmey, have the potential to deliver the vision of the big-thinkers who have brought it so far. It will be interesting to see how they navigate operational and reputational challenges to keep everyone focused on delivering, what should be, a truly transformational project for Wales.