Transport User Voice – April 2018 – You and your train company

28 March 2018

Transport for Wales is currently assessing two bids from KeolisAmey and MTR Corp (Cymru) Ltd to run the new Wales and Borders rail service, due to start in October 2018.

We responded to Transport for Wales’s consultation on the next franchise with insight from passengers including our focus group research into the experiences and aspirations of current Arriva Trains Wales passengers, which we published in June 2017.

A third bidder, Abellio Rail Cymru, withdrew from the competition following the collapse of its partner Carillion. Arriva Rail Wales/Rheilffyrdd Arriva Cymru Ltd, the fourth shortlisted bidder, withdrew at an earlier stage of the process.

A decision on the winning bid could be announced in early summer.

Cross Country franchise consultation

The Department for Transport (DfT) is launching a public consultation in May 2018 to get passengers’ views on the future Cross Country rail services, which will start in December 2019. Feedback from this consultation will help create a new franchise which meets passenger needs.

Waterloo report

We published Railway engineering work: Putting passengers at the heart of the London Waterloo upgrade earlier this month.

The report is an in-depth look at the passenger experience during the London Waterloo station upgrade. It provides recommendations for providing better information to reduce impact on passengers, such as:

  • the industry should aim to use replacement buses only as a last resort
  • timetable information must be available when advance bookings open 12 weeks in advance of a journey
  • there must be adequate customer service provision at interchange stations and bus boarding points.

Click here to download the report.

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