Survey Shows 81% of Rail Passengers Are Satisfied With Their Journey

Transport Focus’s latest National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS), capturing the satisfaction of over 27,000 passengers with their last journey, was published today January 30. It is the largest published rail passenger satisfaction survey in the world.

Four in five rail journeys (81%) are rated satisfactory or good by customers, according to the survey for Autumn 2017. Fewer than one in 10 journeys were rated unsatisfactory (8%). However, just a third of commuters are satisfied with the value for money of their train journey mainly due to continued weak performance.

London Waterloo Train Station © rahul desai (license)

The Results

Performance on South Western Railway has struggled to recover since the major disruption which involved the upgrade at London Waterloo. Passenger satisfaction dropped to 75%, and even further, to 64% for passengers travelling in the peak.

Transport Focus recently called South Western Railway and Network Rail to a special Board meeting to explain the poor performance, their approach to managing disruption and investment plans. Transport Focus will continue to press for improvement.

Meanwhile, there are signs investment is paying off. Scores for the new Thameslink trains has increased – with overall satisfaction with the train up by 13%. Passenger ratings for the new London Bridge station, only partially open during this survey period, have also climbed.

Other key results are:

• overall 81% of passengers nationally were satisfied with their journey (73% for commuters)
• satisfaction with punctuality is up to 74% – this figure drops to 65% for commuters
• value for money ratings continue below the half-way mark, at 47% (down to 33% for commuters)
• satisfaction with how well delays are handled  is at 38% overall (30% for commuters)
• in Scotland 85% of passengers were satisfied with their journey
• highest-scoring operators were Grand Central (96%), Hull Trains (95%), Virgin Trains East Coast (92%), Virgin Trains West Coast and Heathrow Express, both with 91% satisfaction
• lowest-scored were Southern (72%), TfL Rail (75%), South Western Railway (75%), Great Northern (77%), Arriva Trains Wales and Great Western Railway, both with 79%
• TransPennine Express passengers were the least satisfied with the level of crowding on their train, at 58%.

Original article © Transport Focus.

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