Rail complaints reach record high
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Your support makes all the difference.COMPLAINTS BY rail passengers increased by 27 per cent last year as the level of dissatisfaction with privatised companies reached a record high, it was revealed yesterday.
The Central Rail Users Consultative Committee said the public was continuing to suffer, with punctuality deteriorating on two-thirds of routes. There were also regular complaints about unreliability and overcrowding, said the committee.
David Bertram, the committee's chairman, said: "These figures show how far there is still to go and it is a mystery why some operators can habitually put in a good performance and others seem helpless to improve.
"They show just how far some operators still have to go to meet passengers' legitimate expectations. Until they do that, it is not surprising if complaints go up."
In all, there were 18,771 complaints to the committee. Protests about unreliability rose by 42 per cent, lateness by 38 per cent and overcrowding by 36 per cent.
The biggest cause of dissatisfaction was lack of punctuality, making up 21 per cent of complaints. Among the worst performers was Virgin CrossCountry, which saw 20.3 per cent of its trains delayed compared with a national average of 9.3 per cent.
A spokesman for Virgin CrossCountry said the company was disproportionately liable to delays because of the nature of its routes, which stretched from Penzance to Aberdeen. An investment of pounds 1bn in new trains would make services more efficient, he added.
The routes run by North West Trains in the south Manchester area recorded the highest rise in delays, with a 69 per cent increase in the number of services arriving late. The company declined to comment on the figure.
But the committee said there had been some improvements, with complaints against the National Rail Inquiries telephone information service falling by almost a third.
This was welcomed by George Muir, director of the Association of Train Operating Companies. "The efforts made to improve the telephone enquiry service are bearing fruit," he said.
"Complaints generally are still too high. Train operators are installing customer information systems or help buttons at every station, spending pounds 39m on security, closed-circuit televisions and improved lighting.
"They are increasing staff on stations and tackling bottle-necks, all of which will improve the levels of customer service."
The survey also found a 41 per cent fall in complaints about serious delays on services offered by Virgin West Coast Scottish and noted that ScotRail Express had put in one of the best performances with just 3.7 per cent of trains arriving late.
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