CrossCountry told to improve after being ranked Britain’s worst train operator

Neil Lancefield, Press Association Transport Correspondent

Train operator CrossCountry has been told to raise its performance after receiving the worst score in a new passenger survey.

Watchdog Transport Focus said 79% of passengers were satisfied with the Arriva Group-owned operator.

Some 77% of those questioned reported being satisfied with the punctuality and reliability of their journey, while 46% said they were satisfied with how the company dealt with delays.

Transport Focus has asked CrossCountry to improve the passenger experience, reduce delays, provide better information during disruption and cut overcrowding on services.

In the three months to the end of March, 72% of the operator’s stops at stations were made within three minutes of the schedule, while 7% of services were cancelled.

CrossCountry, based in Birmingham, runs long-distance trains serving cities such as Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Sheffield.

Hull Trains achieved the best overall satisfaction score at 94%, followed by LNER (93%).

Merseyrail, Heathrow Express and ScotRail were joint third, with a score of 92%.

Some 87% of passengers overall said they were satisfied with their journey.

Disabled passengers (85%) reported lower satisfaction than non-disabled passengers (88%).

Transport Focus chief executive Alex Robertson said: “These results show that it’s possible for the railway to get it right, but that this isn’t happening consistently enough.

“The gap between the worst and best performing operators is striking, and it also shows that disabled passengers are experiencing a worse service than everyone else.

“What stands out is how much difference handling delays well can make.

“More than nine in 10 people will report a positive experience if a delay is handled well – a remarkably high figure given their train is late – but this falls to one in four when it isn’t.

“Fixing this is well within the railway’s control and should be a priority, particularly when we know passenger trust in the railway is low.

“This is the first report of its kind. I’m optimistic the railway understands the importance of using it to create a more customer focused culture and we’ll be holding them to account to make sure they do.”

Mark Anderson, CrossCountry’s customer and commercial director, said: “These results are disappointing and despite slight improvements in some areas, we know we must do more to deliver the service our customers rightly deserve.

“Looking forward, our refurbished trains are transforming CrossCountry journeys, and our new timetable is delivering better regional connectivity across the country.

“We’re always working to improve onboard experience – from cleaning to catering, better wi-fi and clearer information during disruption.

“In particular, we know that crowding is a challenge and we’re working with industry partners to explore all possible options to ease this.”

CrossCountry is expected to be brought into public ownership next year.

More than 100,000 passengers were questioned in the six months to the end of March, in what was the UK’s largest rail satisfaction survey.

The research runs continuously, with updated results to be published every six months.