TaplowGreen highlighted the challenge the railways face in following up my post that showed up a failure to service the customer during and after problems though Melksham last month.
Graham - you've illustrated one of the key problems GWR▸ and "the railway" has - the attitude it has to its customers.
As has been discussed elsewhere, the railways face a huge challenge over the coming months and years in a changed environment with significantly less demand for its services.
Customer service culture is 100% within the control of the railways to change, and is perhaps one way in which customers can be encouraged to return and remain.
It is starting from such a low place in this respect that any improvement - like above in basic communication and a willingness to say "we got it wrong" and apologise - represents a good start.
From the Melksham Rail User Group meeting last Wednesday - spoken about in a meeting open to anyone who wished to attend (and it was a good sized group) ... so reporting here rather than in "The Rumour Mill". Also reporting here as (!) there is no need for the automated secrecy the rail industry seems to work to.
You are so right in what you write, TaplowGreen, ... but wider indicators I have are not optimistic.
Sources which hear views from high places, but don't always get the detail right, suggest that the next future of passenger train operation will be via management contracts overseen by an existing body - Network Rail - rather than by anything brand new which would require a bill going through parliament. Sources go on to suggest that remaining franchise roll across into the new system needs to be agreed by late January 2021, otherwise the companies running them will not qualify for ongoing government support above the contract which (in view of current decimation of farebox income) would be impractical. So that will make the following the management sequence:
1993 - 2001 Director of Passenger Rail Franchising
2001 - 2006 Strategic Railway Authority
2006 - 2021 Department for Transport (Rail)
2021 onward Network Rail
Network Rail does not have the reputation of being passenger responsive, but then it hasn't been in a customer facing role except at major stations. It does not have the reputations of being able to quickly and pragmatically respond to issues, but then its team is out very quickly when weather damage or signalling issues close a major line. And it has the reputation of having procedures and methods which are longwinded, awkward and expensive. Having expressed those concerns, we are at time of change for Network Rail; Andrew Haines has been in charge 2 years - not sure if that's enough to change such a leviathan of an organisation against the background of "the show must go on" which is a critical overlay if trains are not to come to a halt. Is there a likelihood that passenger service contract award and management at Network Rail would/will be a new division, very much like signal operation and capital investment are already streets apart, though under the same umbrella? And following on from that, might a new passenger service contract division of Network Rail not suffer from the same perceived issues that Network Rail suffers from?
From that same source, a comment that suggests that The Treasury is looking to reduce the financial drain that train and bus operation is having on national coffers, and that a corollary of that is that we are unlikely to see people being encouraged back to public transport by fare system changes implemented for the purpose. No change to the system in January, and "simplifications" beyond that point designed more to maximise income on the lower capacity trains and buses rather than to build traffic. There is also the question of how much the mandarins concerned will appreciate the key use of services in remote places and at less than social hours. Add to that, though, feedback that the need for regional services (that's trains of shorter and medium distances) outside the London commuter belt has been noted and understood, with the thinning out of London commuter services and intercity trains being more likely than other potential losses.
Getting back to culture - from where I sit, it has been disappointing to be an advocate of rail and supportive through volunteering of better services. I appreciate that GWR have had a lot else on their mind, but the withdrawal of most opportunities to help, and of the few tokens of thanks and encouragement that they sometimes provided ("can't do that without
DfT» permission") seems to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I congratulate their former "Customer Engagement Manager" - the lady responsible for overseeing feedback and reaching out at events such as "meet the manager" - in her move and promotion within GWR, but I'm saddened that no replacement has been put in place to keep finding out what the customer wants - the role is now a vacancy and has been for some months, without even anyone being named to cover the work in an interim. Is that how unimportant customer engagement is considered to be?
(But a thank you to friends at GWR who are perhaps informally filling in and doing an excellent job - I will only trouble you on top importance matter!)
