…although the Nobody Gives a Damn Railway lives on

The Times recently reported on the sort of journey from hell that has become all too commonplace on the railway recently.

One of its writers, Richard Crampton, reported on how, during a trip to Stansted Airport which took 54 minutes (rather than the advertised 47), the train stopped unaccountably without explanation for ten minutes, and then the guard announced it would “terminate at Bishop’s Stortford”.

The 200-or-so passengers were advised to “liaise with platform staff at the station”, except that there were none. Nor was there any information about when the next train to the airport was due to arrive.

Then an empty train arrived, but it was going nowhere. Another service did take them to the airport, although only Crampton’s broken Italian prevented a whole bunch from exiting at Stansted Mountfitchet. Eventually, without explanation or apology, the train arrived at the airport 45 minutes late.

Given this was a service to an airport with many people anxious to catch flights, the lack of information was a disgrace. This is not about strikes, signal failures or weather-related incidents, but about poor management and neglect.

All this is avoidable. I was on a Great Western Railway service in mid-November when the train started 20 minutes late. The conductor gave a full explanation for the delay, set out precisely why it had been impossible to gather the information before, and went on to advise people how to get Delay Repay. It was an object lesson in crisis management and is all down to customer care.

To avoid haemorrhaging passengers, the railway needs to inculcate this sort of positive culture into its hard-pressed employees at this difficult time. Even the worst situations can be made to feel better.