UK: The Office of Rail & Road is to begin benchmarking and rating each train operator on its delivery of assistance services for disabled passengers, with the aim of enabling better targeted interventions.
‘Ensuring that disabled passengers consistently receive the support they need to travel by train requires clear focus, collaboration and a commitment to continuous improvement’, said ORR’s Director of Strategy, Policy & Reform Stephanie Tobyn on July 11. ‘Our latest survey shows that overall passenger satisfaction has plateaued, and we know that, in some instances, assistance failures can leave passengers feeling powerless and frustrated. This new rating system will help us target our efforts and use resources effectively, focusing on working with those operators where improvement is most needed to deliver better outcomes for passengers.’
More than 8 700 people participated in the regulator’s Experiences of Passenger Assist survey. This found:
- 88% of respondents were satisfied with the service from booking to receiving assistance in 2024-25, compared to 87% in 2023-24;
- 82% of passengers who booked assistance felt they were met in an acceptable time frame, compared to 80% in 2023-24;
- 78% of passengers received all of the assistance that they booked, comparable to 76% in 2023-24;
- 10% of passengers were not met at all, the same as last year.
ORR said Northern remains among the poorest performers for the reliability of assistance, but is ‘making good progress’ on delivery of an improvement plan.
ORR’s rail accessibility priorities for the coming year include ranking each operator on how well it is delivering assistance, using a revised framework which has been published following consultation.
Operators will be marked on reliability, passenger satisfaction and staff training. The poorest performing operators will also be assessed on their capability to improve, including considering how they monitor their delivery of assistance and how they identify risks that affect performance. The first report will be published this autumn.
ORR will continue to support operators looking to enhance how they communicate and record assistance requests, and will provide an update on its proposal to revise its Accessible Travel Policy guidance so that redress claims are always considered based on the circumstances in each case.
ORR will also monitor Network Rail’s improvement plan to address reliability issues with station lifts; recent annual data showed a 42% increase in the number of faults that put lifts out of service for more than one week. The regulator will also continue to liaise with operators acting on recommendations for improving passenger information for planned rail replacement services.
