Transfer of rolling stock

07 March 2014

Back in December Anthony blogged about the daily crush faced by many First TransPennine Express (FTPE) passengers.

So I found it very hard to reconcile, when I heard this week, that a ‘deal’ was about to be done to ship some of the FTPE fleet (Class 170s) to the operation of Chiltern Railways. Some would argue that this is a ‘North versus South’ political issue. I don’t know about the facts of that argument. The facts are also unclear if this potential solution is the decision of negotiations between the Department for Transport (DfT) and the rolling stock leasing company involved (Porterbrook).

The facts are thin on the ground at the moment. But there is one fact that we can all be sure of. In our autumn 2013 National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) results only 58 per cent of FTPE passengers were satisfied with the amount of space passengers had to sit or stand – this was lowest score result among all train companies! This needs sorting out, and soon, to help restore the trust and confidence of FTPE passengers.

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Passenger Focus’s chief executive, Anthony Smith, is on a career break until April 2014. David Sidebottom is filling in for him while he is away.