Rap for railways over communication

Published on Thursday 23 December 2010 14:28

PASSENGER watchdogs have accused train operators of providing poor information to travellers about weather disruption, after figures which showed ScotRail's train punctuality plummeted by nearly 20 per cent this month.

The company suffered the worst fall in performance among 19 British train operators compared with a year ago, with five of the six most-affected companies running cross-Border services.

ScotRail's punctuality slumped by 18.9 per cent to 70.6 per cent in the four weeks to 11 December - half of which included wintry weather.

The other operators serving Scotland - CrossCountry, First Transpennine Express, East Coast and Virgin Trains - saw their performance fall by between 13 and 15 per cent. Virgin had the worst punctuality, at 70.4 per cent.

Network Rail said delays had been caused by a combination of train and track problems.

Robert Samson, Scotland manager for watchdog Passenger Focus, said operators must get their act together about keeping travellers properly informed about disruption.

He said: "Passengers in Scotland can understand that very severe weather can disrupt transport systems and recognise the efforts made by staff on the ground. What they cannot forgive is poor-quality information.

"Passenger Focus has been warning for years that information during disruption is the rail industry's Achilles Heel - now is the time to really crack this issue."

A ScotRail spokesman: "It is recognised that the industry needs to get consistently better at handling disruption. We continue to improve customer communications, with numerous new actions in place this winter."

They included better information online and more call-centre staff.