North ‘least happy’ with rail service
Survey finds journey satisfaction levels with region’s operators remains low
RAIL PASSENGERS in the North are reporting the lowest satisfaction in the country after being blighted by years of dire performance, with campaigners saying “enough is enough”.
The transport user watchdog, Transport Focus, yesterday released its latest National Rail Passenger Survey of almost 28,000 passengers, of which more than 2,000 travelled on Northern or TransPennine Express services.
Just 72 per cent of Northern passengers were satisfied with their last journey, unchanged from last year when it was the lowest in the 20 years since the survey began, while just 34 per cent were satisfied with how well the company dealt with delays.
The survey shows Northern Passengers were the least satisfied nationally, with TransPennine Express fourth least satisfied on 79 per cent. Other results revealed 54 per cent were satisfied with value for money and 65 per cent for punctuality and reliability.
TransPennine Express saw 79 per cent of its customers satisfied with their last journey, up from lowest-in-a-decade 73 per cent following the 2018 ‘timetable crisis’, but the firm remains at the bottom end of the national table.
Just 47 per cent were satisfied with how well it dealt with delays, while 44 per cent were satisfied with its value for money.
The chief executive of Transport Focus, Anthony Smith, said: “Passengers tell us that their biggest priority is rail services they can rely on to actually get them to work or home on time.
“When that doesn’t happen, it impacts the rest of their lives. Poor scores for how delays were handled show that passengers still aren’t getting the help they need when facing disruption.
“Northern and TransPennine
Express passengers have suffered for a long time now. Enough is enough. We welcomed Monday’s announcement of Delay Repay 15 compensation for TransPennine passengers – and we remind everyone to claim whenever they are delayed – but something must be done to restore reliability to the railway in this area. We want to hear from the operators and Network Rail how they intend to get services back on track.”
The chaotic introduction of new timetables in May 2018 saw hundreds of trains a day cancelled, while punctuality and reliability problems continue to blight the network.
Office of Rail and Road figures show just 56 per cent of Northern trains arrived at stations within one minute of the timetable in the 12 months to December 7, compared with the average across Britain of 65 per cent.
Northern says it has faced unprecedented challenges outside its “direct control” such as infrastructure upgrades running behind schedule, delays in the delivery of new trains and “extreme weather events”. The firm said its £600m investment in new and revamped trains and better stations will provide a “much better journey experience for customers”.
Northern Managing Director David Brown said: “Although, year-on-year, Northern has improved in almost half the categories customers were surveyed on, the overall results are disappointing. However, when you consider the challenges faced by the rail industry in 2019, and in the North of England in particular, they are not surprising.
“We are sorry to any customer whose experience of Northern has been disappointing; our customers deserve the best possible rail service and we are working hard, alongside our partners, to improve performance.
“Around 70 per cent of all delays are outside of Northern’s control and we continue to work closely with colleagues from Network Rail, and the other operators, to keep this disruption to a minimum and our customers on the move.”
TransPennine Express was approached for comment.