Chiefs vow to raise game as rail survey hits out at overcrowding

In a major survey carried out by independent watchdog organisation Passenger Focus, the proportion of Northern Rail customers who rated their overall journey as satisfactory or good was just 78 per cent.

That figure was the second lowest for any operator in the country, with only Southern (76 per cent) faring worse.

One hot topic for Northern passengers was overcrowding, with just 66 per cent saying the amount of room on its services was satisfactory or good. Another local operator, First TransPennine Express (FTPE), performed even worse on overcrowding, getting a satisfaction rating of 58 per cent when it came to the amount of room for passengers – the lowest figure in the country.

The firm yesterday acknowledged “crowding and sufficient space” had been highlighted as an area where travellers wanted improvements and said it was addressing the issue by investing £60m in 40 new carriages.

Northern managing director Alex Hynes said he was pleased that his firm’s overall satisfaction rating was three per cent up on its showing in a Passenger Focus survey that was conducted in spring last year. Mr Hynes said: “We are listening and responding to customers and have more plans in the pipeline for this year.”

Other overall satisfaction ratings for local operators included 95 per cent for Grand Central and 91 per cent for East Coast while CrossCountry and First Hull Trains both scored 86 per cent.

Karen Boswell, managing director at East Coast, said the result had left her team “very proud and pleased”.

The overall satisfaction rating for rail services nationwide among survey respondents was 83 per cent. Happiness with how operators handle delays has dropped from 44 per cent to 40 per cent over the last 12 months. Satisfaction on punctuality was 79 per cent, down from 83 per cent a year ago.

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group, which speaks on behalf of railway companies, said: “Even though overall passenger satisfaction remains at a near record high, these latest results are a sober reminder that the industry can never be complacent on the issues that matter to passengers.

“All parts of the rail industry are stepping up efforts to reduce delays and improve how we communicate with passengers, particularly during disruption. We will continue to listen to and act on what passengers tell us is important.”

Passenger Focus acting chief executive, David Sidebottom, said: “There are gaps of around 20 per cent between the best and worst-performing services, and satisfaction with value for money varied from 28 to 82 per cent.

“Although generally satisfaction has remained fairly high over the last five years, we want to see a more consistently high level of service for passengers, wherever they may be travelling to and from.”

Passenger Focus interviewed nearly 30,000 rail users as it conducted the survey last autumn.

In a separate report, the Citizens’ Advice consumer group yesterday said the number of people seeking advice about trains had soared from 14,138 in 2012 to 43,282 last year. Most of the inquiries came from people looking for compensation or wanting to complain.

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