Transport User Voice January 2025 – Chief Executive’s editorial

23 December 2024

Working to support passengers 

How many of you are planning to use the train this Christmas?

For once we’re not heading up to Scotland to see my parents and I’m relieved. I suspect almost everyone relying on a train in the next two weeks will be anxious it may not run or that they end up crammed in alongside other passengers who have had their service cancelled. 

Train cancellations are running at around four per cent nationally – almost double the level 15 years ago – and I don’t want to pretend there are quick fixes. There aren’t. We can only hope all the right steps are being taken now to sort this out properly in the long-term. In the meantime, we need to avoid a council of despair and make sure everything is being done to deliver a better service for customers now.  Better communication during disruption, realistic timetabling of services and improving passenger assistance should be top of the list.   

The rail scorecards we published this month are a contribution to that. Nobody likes being ranked behind their peers and we hope presenting customer feedback scores, alongside data on cancellations and punctuality, will help keep the industry focused on where they can make a difference. At the same time, we need to recognise there are an awful lot of people working incredibly hard this festive period to keep trains running – from train drivers, to station staff and managers planning services – and that can’t be easy. 

Thank you to everyone involved who I know will be doing their best in often difficult circumstances. 

Travel safely wherever you go and I wish you all a happy Christmas and New Year. 

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