Transport User Voice – Maintaining the railway

19 December 2017

Maintaining the railway is critical – without regular maintenance, things will not run properly.

Passengers say they will be understanding about routine railway maintenance even though it causes disruption – as long as they are kept well informed. This came out of today’s report from independent watchdog Transport Focus, Routine railway maintenance: passenger perspectives and priorities.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said:

“Passengers tell us that they will tolerate a certain level of disruption knowing it helps keep the railway running in the long term. But they expect to be kept well informed and helped to make alternative plans where needed. However, as we saw earlier this week, this doesn’t always happen.”

Transport Focus is now calling on industry to:

Tell passengers why the work is happening – support for routine maintenance is stronger when passengers understand why the work is necessary.

Give passengers accurate, timely and reliable information at least 12 weeks in advance so they can plan journeys and book tickets with confidence.

Help passengers with plan B options – these should be communicated clearly, and help provided both in person at stations, and online.

Read the full report here.

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