Train passenger satisfaction falls to a 10 year low amid catalogue of failures

A rush to failure: that is how the 2018 timetable fiasco looks to train passengers on the worst-affected networks, Thameslink and Northern Rail.

The latest National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) shows travellers' satisfaction with rail services has fallen to a 10-year low, with one in five passengers unhappy with their train service. Satisfaction with how train operators dealt with delays scored 37 per cent in the latest survey but ranged between 29 per cent (Southern and Thameslink) and 77 per cent (Grand Central).

Among commuters, just 31 per cent of those surveyed rated their journey as value for money.

NRPS is the largest published rail passenger satisfaction survey in the world. Transport Focus surveyed more than 25,000 passengers, across all operators and across all times and days between 1 September and 16 November 2018.

Seven operators significantly declined compared with the survey in the spring of 2018: Great Northern, Northern, TransPennine Express, Greater Anglia, Thameslink, ScotRail and LNER.

Only two train operators have significantly improved: Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways.

Transport Focus said: “'With worsening punctuality, the timetable chaos last summer, and lamentable strikes, passengers are less happy than at any time since 2008."

The May 2018 timetable changes were unprecedented in their complexity. The rail industry adopted a “big bang” approach to bringing in new schedules in southeast and northern England – with Govia Thameslink Railway, the biggest rail franchise, saying that every single one of its train would run to a new timetable.

But a catalogue of failures, from overrunning engineering work to insufficient drivers with route knowledge mean that the plans unravelled within hours of the timetable change taking place.

In the weeks following 20 May, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), covering much of London and the southeast, failed to run one in eight of its planned 3,880 daily services.

One in nine services on Arriva Rail North, which operates Northern rail services, did not run. TransPennine Express passengers were also badly affected.

Even now many commuters say they have a worse service than before the schedule changes.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “Passenger irritation at poor performance erodes their most basic trust in the industry.

“Passenger frustration at continual fare increases saps confidence in the system to reform itself. Passenger anger during the summer timetable crisis was palpable.

“A better value for money and more reliable railway must arrive soon for passengers.”

The government has asked Keith Williams, former boss of British Airways, “to consider all parts of the industry in order to put passengers first”.

The Department for Transport has promised that reforms will begin from 2020.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train operators and Network Rail, said it was investing billions of pounds to improve punctuality and provide new and refurbished carriages.

The RDG’s managing director of customer experience, Jacqueline Starr, said: “Punctuality is the bedrock of satisfaction for our customers and at the moment in too many places, we are not getting it right.

“We are pushing for more fundamental reform to fix the railway for the future, including developing proposals for regulatory change to make the fares system easier, and engaging fully with the government’s independent review of how the whole railway is bolted together.”

One rare success was that satisfaction with internet connections on long-distance trains rose by 5 per cent. Heathrow Express’s wifi was considered the most reliable at 74 per cent.