Rail passenger feelings of personal security and other satisfaction with Britain’s railway stations has improved a little in recent years, but remains low for many stations and for many of the facilities provided at them, according to a report by the National Audit Office.
According to the report to Parliament by head of the NAO Sir John Bourn, the 95 largest stations enjoy the highest levels of passenger satisfaction. These are fully staffed, have a range of facilities and carry more than half of all rail passengers each year. Passengers are consistently less satisfied, however, with the more than 2,000 medium-sized and small stations that are unstaffed or staffed for only part of the day and that have few facilities.
Satisfaction with station facilities and services varies considerably. Passenger satisfaction is low for the overall station environment, cleanliness, state of repair, personal security, and car parking. Research carried out for the Department for Transport suggests that improving personal safety would result in significantly more journeys being made by train, much of which would occur outside peak hours.
About rail
Network Rail owns most of Britain’s 2,507 stations and is responsible for their structural repair and renewal. It also operates 17 of the largest stations. It leases the remaining stations to train operating companies (TOCs) who take responsibility for day-to-day maintenance and operations, such as selling tickets and providing travel information. TOCs have to comply with basic station requirements set out in their franchise agreements with the Strategic Rail Authority.
At privatisation, the government expected that TOCs would improve their stations beyond the basic requirements in response to commercial incentives to attract more passengers and secure higher revenues. This approach has led to investment in passenger information systems and CCTV, but not delivered the other outcomes envisaged. The low level of passenger use at smaller stations makes it difficult to make a business case for investing in improved or additional facilities. And there is a gap between rising passenger expectations and what the industry can afford. The SRA planned to modernise 730 stations but had to cut down to 68 stations and halt other new improvement projects to match the funds available. Much investment has been attracted into the improvement of stations, the NAO adds, but the industry needs to attract more funding and support from the private sector to meet passenger expectations.
What they say
Sir John Bourn said: "While most of Britain’s largest stations provide excellent facilities, many other stations do not. The government, the industry and other interested parties must work together in a more concerted fashion to tackle the financial and other barriers to improvement so that more of our stations provide the facilities and services that rail passengers deserve."
