We must change trains - now!

Interiors should be comfortable, flexible and family-friendly

MY visits to London (King’s Cross) make it increasingly clear that rail is recovering and that passengers really are returning. LNER reports it is now at 90% of pre-pandemic passenger levels, putting it well ahead of a very mixed pack.

It’s pleasing to see most LNER on-board staff reigniting East Coast’s characteristic ‘sparkle’ in their service delivery. Some aspects don’t cost a penny, either. As a regular LNER weekday passenger from Peterborough, the cheery approach of Peter, Glenn and their colleagues on the station always gets my day off to a bright start.

LNER’s recovery is no surprise. The East Coast Main Line has never been a commuter railway and has always chiefly served the discretionary market. Quality customer service matters - it’s pointless attracting new customers if you give them a poor experience they won’t want to repeat. And they’ll tell all their friends, too! Word of mouth works both ways!

Intense South East commuting, which once accounted for 75% of all passenger traffic, is now much reduced. It was a burning platform even pre-pandemic - remember those quiet Fridays? Well, that platform is now ashes.

RAIL always had a hunch that the passenger business would recover steadily to around 80%, and that’s what has happened.

LNER is ahead at 90% because of its history with leisure traffic. Given that remote office working is here to stay, it’s safe to assume that the only way to get back to (let alone exceed) 100% of pre-COVID ridership is via the discretionary market. It’s no coincidence that LNER is significantly ahead of everyone else.

It’s urgent, too, because with around £12 billion of public money spent supporting railways since March 2020 - and a current financial gap of up to £2bn a year - the Treasury is desperate (and determined) to close the gap.

However, all that civil servants seem capable of is slashing costs, when the more sophisticated and effective answer is to manage those costs properly while aggressively growing revenues.

It is fundamentally important that a suitably skilled Great British Railways not only arrives quickly, but is also (crucially) given authority to manage both costs and revenues. Simply driving down costs will tip the railway into a downward spiral of decline.

However, soaring fuel costs, increasing environmental awareness and a drive for sustainable transport are ‘rolling the pitch’ for rail growth. Carpe diem!

Crucial in growing discretionary travel will be the provision not only of better customer service across the board, but also a new generation of family-friendly facilities at stations and aboard trains.

It’s not all about big investment. Many small changes could make a difference - such as not ordering parents to collapse buggies and then carry their children through gatelines. There’s a wider wheelchair gate, so why not simply and pleasantly guide them through there? This is just one procedural example that would cost nothing but would improve the parental experience.

But new investment will also be required. A few years ago, train leasing company Eversholt did a great job of producing mock-ups for carriages of the future. They were fascinating. It was the first time I’d even seen mobile phone induction chargers - these were set flush into table tops.

I do not believe this requires bespoke familyfriendly coaches. My view is that careful design means that every coach could be flexibly family-friendly.

Given that train seating (as on aircraft) is secured to longitudinal floor rails, maybe we need a range of different, new, standard seating modules? Maybe groups of four with tip-up seats to accommodate buggies/luggage alongside a travelling family without blocking aisles and vestibules… rotating Shinkansen-style airline seats that swivel to create facing groups of four… luggage modules that fit where seats might otherwise go?

Rolling stock companies and train operators could mix n’ match these standard modules in any new or existing carriage to flexibly configure a train, reflecting demand. And it would be relatively easy to switch these modules to fine tune the mix. We need a pan-industry initiative to create effective solutions.

Since privatisation in the mid-1990s, relentless 6% annual growth (which barely blipped during the financial crisis from 2008) resulted in the 800 million passengers a year BR had carried in its last year doubling to 1.6 billion.

Trains were specified by the Department for

Transport to cram as many seats in as possible, leading to ghastly ranks of airline seating, fewer tables, the mismatch of seats and windows, restricted leg room and even seats against blank walls. It also led to something of a box-ticking exercise with regard to wheelchair and luggage facilities and the requirements of family groups, none of which were treated well.

The outcome was ‘ironing board’ seats in clinical interiors in new trains which surveys repeatedly show are less popular than the 30to 40-year-old Mk 3/Mk 4 trains they replaced. This makes no practical, commercial or business sense.

Even the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail

recommended that train interiors should be upgraded to create an improved passenger environment… and that DfT involvement should cease. RAIL has persistently argued this case. It must now happen.

Don’t take my word for any of this. Here are two tweets from Charlotte Wildman on April 12:

“Without kids, trains are amazing - peace, quiet, etc. can work, read. Absolute bliss!

“I’ve had a mare of a journey on public transport with two very small young children on both buses and trains (not enough seats, feeling like my pushchair gets in the way, looks from people, etc). At least I’m not intimidated in my car.”

And here are two from Natalie Cosgrove on April 10…

“…why don’t you give any storage for prams on trains… I’ve just been barked at & told that I must hold my baby in the toilet area if she wants to sleep OR stand in the toilet area with the pram whilst simultaneously packing it down. I feel so disregarded.”

“I have been told that I should stand near the toilet with pram if my 6mo wishes to sleep but why won’t I pack down. Or I can get off and discuss my concerns about this with the transport police if I refuse to pack my pram down.”

The irony is that Natalie was speaking about an experience with LNER. Even the best can find it impossible to deliver adequate or even good service when working with out-dated Conditions of Carriage and dreadful DfT train interiors, specified to cram seats in and marginalising wheelchair and family facilities.

When paying young mums are told they may face an encounter with the BTP, it’s way… way… past time for a radical new approach.

“Quality customer service matters - it’s pointless attracting new customers if you give them a poor experience they won’t want to repeat.”