There is a lot of change coming down the tracks for the railway. Earlier this month the King’s Speech set out plans for a Railways Bill, a welcome step towards the establishment of Great British Railways. Another, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, will have its second reading in the House of Commons today. These reforms are hugely significant, but they will naturally take time to have an impact on passengers’ journeys.
We’re continuing to monitor passengers’ day-to-day experience and benchmark how the railway is performing now. Last week we published our latest Rail User Survey reports. At a national level, our four-weekly Rail User Survey shows that 86 per cent of passengers were satisfied with their last journey. This headline satisfaction level has remained relatively stable in recent months, but the train operator results, covering journeys from September 2023 to June 2024, shows how much satisfaction varies across the network.
Overall journey satisfaction ranges from 91 per cent for c2c and Great Northern to 77 per cent for CrossCountry. The key issue facing CrossCountry passengers is plain to see, with just 54 per cent satisfied with the level of crowding onboard the train – nine per cent lower than any other operator. The increased capacity from May 2025 provided by the 12 new trains announced earlier this year cannot come soon enough for CrossCountry passengers.
The new Government has made improving performance on the railways one of its five key priorities for transport. The importance of punctuality and reliability to passengers comes through loud and clear in our research and is one constant that won’t change as a result of reform. Satisfaction with punctuality and reliability in our latest report ranges from 87 per cent for Greater Anglia to 67 per cent for Avanti West Coast. This significant difference in satisfaction is no surprise when you consider the train performance data published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Over the last year, on average, 86.1 per cent of Greater Anglia trains arrived ‘on time’ compared with just 42.5 per cent of Avanti West Coast trains. The level of cancellations and longer delays have been especially impactful for Avanti West Coast passengers. ORR’s data shows that over the last year, 15.1 per cent of Avanti West Coast trains were either cancelled or delayed by more than 30 minutes. This is reflected in passengers’ experiences too:
I travel regularly between Rochford and London Liverpool Street. 90% of the time the trains are on time and travel without issues. If there are issues the conductors are good at keeping the passengers updated.
Greater Anglia, commute
Travelling from London Euston to Stockport, the Avanti West Coast train was delayed and I missed my connecting train. This isn’t the first time.
Avanti West Coast, leisure
As the railway is reformed over the coming weeks and months, it’s vitally important that it is focused on passengers and what they want. One of the best ways to help the railway achieve this is to use a customer experience measure – based on passengers’ direct feedback on their journeys. The railway will need a large-scale survey to provide more regular and granular feedback and enable it to demonstrate to passengers that it is consistently improving its service across the whole network. In the meantime, we will keep using our Rail User Survey to benchmark performance and ensure the passengers’ voice is heard.
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