| Performance Target | P01 | P02 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punctuality (Time to 3) | 72.60% | 70.36% | |
| Reliability (All Station Cancellations) | 2.50% | 3.80% | |
| Overall Customer Satisfaction Target (MAA) | 87.00% | 87.00% | |
| Overall Customer Satisfaction Actual (MAA) | 84.50% | 84.50% | |
| Dealing with Delay Target (MAA) | 64.00% | 64.00% | |
| Dealing with Delay Actual (MAA) | 63.90% | 64.80% | |
| Ticketless Travel Target | 2.75% | 2.75% | |
| Ticketless Travel Actual (Based on a survey undertaken four times a year) | N/A | 1.78% | |
Unfortunately, in Period 02 we missed our Department for Transport Targets for: T-CS1 - Overall Customer Satisfaction and T-OP2 - All Stations Cancellations.
Whilst a reliable and punctual train service performance is the biggest driver of customer satisfaction, we also need to provide customers with an excellent and consistent customer service.
Using a variety of insights, including the recently launched Rail Customer Experience Survey (RCXS) and our Customer Panel, we are working to use customer insight to “home in” on the key issues which are affecting our satisfaction results. This of course requires us to work in lockstep with other industry partners across the North of England and Scotland, recognising that we are collectively delivering for customers across the entire railway together.
We have more work to do to mature some of our targeted plans to improve upon key areas, but we recognise that our immediate focus needs to be on:
We work extremely closely with industry partners including Network Rail (who are responsible for the railway’s infrastructure) as we recognise that performance must be better and more consistent. We are building a Joint Performance Plan with partners across the North and are working hard to deliver essential engineering upgrades, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade and significant works across the West Coast Mainline.
Billions of pounds are being invested into the railway across the North and we recognise our vital role to support customers throughout these upgrade schemes and to do better on reliability and consistency in the meantime. You can read more about the investment in the North’s railways here.
Across stations, we are working with industry partners, including Network Rail and Northern Trains, to improve the customer experience across all stations, particularly the main gateways to the North like Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Manchester Airport. We are in the process of embedding a 10% uplift in station colleagues across our managed stations and are introducing additional staff at other locations such as Glasgow Central.
For our on-board experience, we recognise cleanliness, toilet reliability, WiFi and our First Class experience are key areas of focus. We are working on refresh plans for our fleets, are bedding in and introducing additional toilet tanking equipment at Liverpool and Leeds, preparing to procure new WiFi services and are investing in the First Class experience including the recent introduction of our hot food, at-service TransPennine Kitchen proposition (you can read more about that here).
A key focus for this year is to invest in our safeguarding schemes, this includes the introduction of 8 dedicated TPE Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), whom we are embedding into our network. We are recruiting PCSOs at several locations, with PCSOs already in place at a number of locations including Preston, Manchester and Hull. These officers are undertaking regular patrols both on-board TPE services and at TPE stations, in partnership with our existing security personnel and the wider BTP, to provide support and reassurance to colleagues and customers. This includes targeted support at anti-social behaviour hotspots.
Improving the inclusivity of our offerings, particularly Passenger Assist, is a critical focus and we are in the process of delivering our Passenger Assist improvement plan (including the additional staffing at our managed stations) and working with other parties to ensure a customer’s end-to-end journey is consistent and high quality, agnostic of who they are traveling with. We also continue to deliver industry training (and refresher training) to our teams in this vital area.
Reviewing our communication during delays is important to ensure they meet customer requirements. Further to insight from our Customer Panel, we are ensuring that our customer facing colleagues on-board and at stations are equipped, confident, and empowered to deliver consistently for customers each and every journey. This includes giving colleagues the right tools and support so they can provide accurate and timely information to customers, including during times of disruption, and support them with their roles. A range of tools are currently available, but we are providing additional support for colleagues by working to refresh them on key skills and information sources which will be beneficial to driving greater consistency of customer experience. We are working to deliver greater staff visibility at key locations during period of disruption (as mentioned above) and we are working to simplify Delay Repay, by working with the industry on the recently announced reforms.
We continuously review the insights from customer surveys and panels, including the Rail Customer Experience Survey, and use this information to inform the development of our plans going forward. If you wish to register your interest for our customer panel you can do so here.
The decline in performance during Period 02 was largely driven by a spell of unusually high temperatures during the final week of the period, combined with a range of infrastructure and external incidents across the network. These included overhead line issues at Carnforth, a track fault at Manchester Airport, and signalling failures caused by (two) lightning strikes - one on the Styal line and another at Castleford.
Vegetation related incidents also contributes, with the most significant individual event being a tree on the line at Sowerby Bridge. This reflects an ongoing challenge with vegetation management on the North Route via the Calder Valley.
In addition, performance was impacted by reliability issues within the Class 185 fleet. These issues stem from earlier wheelset supply challenges, which have limited access to maintenance facilities at Ardwick depot and affected the ability to carry out engine and alternator maintenance effectively.
We are working closely with Network Rail to improve infrastructure resilience. This includes an increased focus on vegetation management in the Calder Valley, with additional site visits and proactive works planned ahead of upcoming diversions.
We are also addressing fleet reliability issues through an internal review, which will identify the root causes of the recent Class 185 performance challenges and put actions in place to improve maintenance access and reliability.
Alongside this, we are contributing to an industry-wide review into hot weather performance. This will help identify improvements and strengthen resilience during periods of extreme weather, supporting better performance in the future.