Qn.4 for Mark Hopwood: When things go wrong...

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

This question was submitted by Melksham Rail User Group members - Reginald25, Grahame and others - and passed at meeting 24th July 2019

Background:

When trains fail to run, fail to call at stations or miss connections, you have a duty (moral, public relations in in some circumstances contractual) to help them complete their journey expediently and without extra cost to them.

Where services are frequent the best solution is simply to wait for the next train. Where it's unsafe and unwise to provide alternatives - for example if rail and roads are blocked by snow, sound advise is not to travel. And sometimes a sound alternative is to travel on the following day, with tickets being accepted.  However, on occasions where an alternatives could easily be offered, it seem often to be offered only if the customer knows their rights, then reluctantly implemented and not in such a way that they minimise customer delay.

Question:

a. Where a connection fails into an infrequent train or there is a last minute cancellation, can you not speed up the system of getting replacement transport for stranded customers.  For example, when the 17:49 (Saturday) from Bristol to Weymouth is late at Trowbridge (due 18:29) it regularly fails to connect with the 18:38 to Melksham.  There are taxis waiting on the rank (or appear there shortly) and yet it takes between an hour (at the quickest) and 90 minutes for an alternative to be arranged via the help point. The help point team tell us in such circumstances that they cannot promise we will be refunded if we club together and take a taxi ourselves.

b. At stations that average over 10 passenger journeys per train calling, can you not arrange for a bus or taxi to be at the station for normal train departure time if the train is cancelled hours in advance and there is no further train in that direction due for over 100 minutes?

c. At those times that customers are left stranded / waiting, can you please get information back to them concerning the status (estimated arrival time) of replacement transport and keep them updated?


Note:

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has done an excellent job in implementing "delay / repay" - much clearer than old system, and much quicker in most cases to get money back to people. Please make a similar dramatic improvement to provision of road replacement where it's necessary, and please take steps to reduce the need for rail replacement to be much much rarer than it is at prese

[MarkHopwood]

I agree we should look after people in such situations although our ability to do so is often limited by the availability of resources such as buses and taxis and our own people as well as how much other disruption we are managing at the time. Our Passenger Charter sets out a framework for this -  https://www.gwr.com/about-us/our-business/passengers-charter

a.   We have a contract in place with First Transport Solutions for buses and they will enquire about availability on our behalf with dedicated companies who already comply with the required safety standards. 

Customers are encouraged to inform the Train Manager of any connections so arrangements can be made as far in advance as possible by contacting the Control Centre and arrange a possible hold or where the connection cannot be held, we know to arrange road transport in advance.

The Contact Centre answering our station help point calls will contact our Control Centre to arrange replacement road transport for connections that have been missed and there is no train service for 60 minutes.

Our taxi sourcing company (Cabfind) has been taken over recently by a larger taxi sourcing company (CMAC) which now has the combined resources of both companies, creating the largest network of corporate ground transportation solutions in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). Already we are seeing improvements, with a newly developed road transport tool, which has simplified the booking process and provides our Control team with the real-time status of the taxis, confirmation when they have picked-up and dropped off.

CMAC Press release: https://www.cmacgroup.co.uk/blog/cmac-acquires-cabfind-creating-the-largest-network-of-corporate-ground-transportation-solutions-in-the-uk/

b.   We aim to provide replacement transport where there is no alternative train service in the next hour. Where a cancellation is known about hours in advance it is much easier to have road transport in place on time at the origin station.

There are challenges, even when the road transport is requested hours in advance, which can include;

-   Road transport is much slower than a train service, and whilst it may have departed its origin station on-time, it is unlikely to keep up with the train timetable when stopping at the following stations.
-   Availability of the driver, who may need to travel to the depot to collect the bus.
-   Bus/Coach/Taxi availability in the area, at peak times when most of our passengers travel, these are also the times when our road transport suppliers are their busiest, especially the buses which are used for school transport.

c.    Often, we do not receive a contact number for the customer when calls are taken through the station help point by National Rail Enquiries and we are unable to close the loop on this.   When road transport has been requested at staffed stations, we will provide an estimated time for the arrival to our station staff, however, currently we are not able to track the road transport as accurately as our train services and the estimates can move if the road transport is delayed in traffic. 

However, we are working with our road transport suppliers (First Travel Solutions: 16 seater to coaches and CMAC: taxis) to develop GPS tracking of road vehicles and make this available to our Control Centre teams.

[grahame]

A very full answer to a very full question thank you. 

I understand (I think) the principles and constraints ... but I can think of three occasions in the last few months where I have indeed approached the train manager (and other simply don't know to approach him!) and been re-assured, rather than any call being made ... and then the connection has failed.  Only one was onto a train on my "home" line, so not a local issue.  Dangerous to quote individual cases when looking at the generallity of it ... none of the three was peak/school time.

It is ... highly ... frustrating to see a connecting last train of the day pull out as your train pulls in then to have to wait 90 minutes for "your" taxi, when there are taxis standing on the station rank which I believe you license. Again - not just a one off.  Of course, the real solution is to get the trains all running on time and the problem more or less goes away.

[MarkHopwood]

I agree we need to do more. Please let us know when you think we’ve got it wrong. You can also use Twitter to talk to us real time if you want. I’m happy to try and encourage Train Managers to talk to passengers about this.

I can’t promise to hold connections as some of these will cause further delay especially if on a tight turnround or using single line sections.

[Reginald25]

Thank you for the comprehensive response. Although we shouldn't get tied into specific issues, we can take MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) as a good example of a station that has a relatively high usage, is unmanned, and has a daytime service at approximately 2 hourly intervals. WE have had the situation where a taxi brought passengers into the station but was unable to transport waiting passengers back to the origin station (no doubt quite correctly from the drivers viewpoint). However some flexibility here might have helped the situation.

[MarkHopwood]

I agree. If we have procured a taxi we should try and provide it with further business but sometimes taxis do have other work booked already.

[grahame]

I agree we need to do more. Please let us know when you think we’ve got it wrong. You can also use Twitter to talk to us real time if you want. I’m happy to try and encourage Train Managers to talk to passengers about this.

I can’t promise to hold connections as some of these will cause further delay especially if on a tight turnround or using single line sections.

Understand a lot of the metrics and sometimes it DOES work.   Huge thanks to your team yesterday who moved a train by a few minutes to make a connection ... for between 25 and 30 people headed for a day out.  It can be done - a lot of it as you say is "tweaking" and has to be said it's very easy to be wise afterwards!

[MarkHopwood]

Pleased to hear

[broadgage]

I appreciate that obtaining taxis can be challenging at remote locations.
What however is not acceptable to the average passenger is when it takes GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) an hour or more to obtain taxis at a station with a queue of empty taxis on the station forecourt.
I have observed this at Taunton, loads of taxis for hire, but of no help to those stranded by a missed connection.

[ChrisB]

The Contact Centre answering our station help point calls will contact our Control Centre to arrange replacement road transport for connections that have been missed and there is no train service for 60 minutes.

and

c.    Often, we do not receive a contact number for the customer when calls are taken through the station help point by National Rail Enquiries and we are unable to close the loop on this. 

c. is the cause of a lot of passenger angst at unstaffed stations. The contact centres do not/are not instructed to collect a contact number, and there is no way of calling back through the help point. Neither (usually) do you get through to the same person in the call centre should you call through to it after waiting (too) long for your transport.

Maybe something to take up through Transport Focus as it affects all call centres & TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). There needs to be a way of keeping the passenger updated, especially at unstaffed stations.

[Fourbee]

With regard to ChrisB's point above, if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s control centre number was published then the general public could talk directly to a person in Swindon in these circumstances (assuming they have a mobile phone) and their CLI could be captured to close the loop. For obvious operational reasons that would be undesirable for GWR as it would permit uncontrolled/unthrottled access to a key resource.

Perhaps a few Skype/VoIP numbers into control could be obtained and dished out by National Rail Enquiries (selecting a specific number for a specific day to prevent abuse) allowing the customer to manage the situation directly.

Also, First Travel Solutions is technically part of First Bus which is currently looking to be separated from FirstGroup (which may have implications for the future).

[Timmer]

Surely the simplest answer would be for all unstaffed station help call points to be directed to the relevant TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) who manages that station rather than someone being put through to a call centre in India or wherever National Rail Enquiries is based these days.

[ChrisB]

Agreed - and it has been suggested! Too difficult, splitting the contract, I was told.

That, and personally, I think the contact centre/TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) ought to take ownership & be calling/making contact with updates if necessary - not for the customer to have to chase.

[MarkHopwood]

I appreciate that obtaining taxis can be challenging at remote locations.
What however is not acceptable to the average passenger is when it takes GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) an hour or more to obtain taxis at a station with a queue of empty taxis on the station forecourt.
I have observed this at Taunton, loads of taxis for hire, but of no help to those stranded by a missed connection.

We have no facility to use taxis off the rank unless they are already signed up to our central supplier (CMAC) and we do not keep petty cash at stations for local staff to pay for customers at the start of their journey.  I appreciate this is frustrating when customers are waiting at the station. If there are any local taxi companies who wish to sign up to our central supplier, I’d be happy to put them in touch.

[MarkHopwood]

The Contact Centre answering our station help point calls will contact our Control Centre to arrange replacement road transport for connections that have been missed and there is no train service for 60 minutes.

and

c.    Often, we do not receive a contact number for the customer when calls are taken through the station help point by National Rail Enquiries and we are unable to close the loop on this. 

c. is the cause of a lot of passenger angst at unstaffed stations. The contact centres do not/are not instructed to collect a contact number, and there is no way of calling back through the help point. Neither (usually) do you get through to the same person in the call centre should you call through to it after waiting (too) long for your transport.

Maybe something to take up through Transport Focus as it affects all call centres & TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company). There needs to be a way of keeping the passenger updated, especially at unstaffed stations.

Thanks for your suggestion, I will ask our Customer Information team to look at updating the process to ask for a contact number.  We simply do not have the capacity in our Control Centre in Swindon to manage and respond to calls received through the Help Points.