{"id":1747,"date":"2018-08-11T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=1747"},"modified":"2018-08-11T12:09:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T11:09:51","slug":"why-under-fire-rail-boss-needs-to-take-a-trip-to-meet-his-customers-heres-the-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=1747","title":{"rendered":"“Why under-fire rail boss needs to take a trip to meet his customers. Here\u2019s the invite”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Richmond: Why under-fire rail boss needs to take a trip to meet his customers. Here\u2019s the invite<\/span><\/p>\n

[from the Yorkshire Post, Saturday 11 August 2018]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The managing director of troubled train operator TransPennine Express, Leo Goodwin, has now broken his silence on the region\u2019s rail scandal, after some prompting, in last week\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

He issued a half-hearted apology, which The Yorkshire Post published on Tuesday, in which he suggested that many of the problems on the main line between Leeds and Manchester were down to Network Rail and Northern.<\/p>\n

If he thinks this evasiveness \u2013 straight from the Macavity handbook written by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling \u2013 is sufficient to get him off the hook for the time being, then he, and his PR team, should think again.<\/p>\n

The column challenge came after commuters from Marsden and Slaithwaite contacted me about the hundreds \u2013 yes, hundreds \u2013 of trains that have been cancelled, or not reached their intended destination since timetable changes came into effect in late May.<\/p>\n

Not only is this causing great inconvenience for travellers, but tourism in the beautiful Colne Valley is now being hit. B&B owner Jane Walker said it was easier for some guests to travel from New Mexico to Manchester than it was from the North West city to her village.<\/p>\n

Yet did Mr Goodwin respond to this? No, he did not. Has he answered letters from residents, and campaigners, who can no longer rely upon the train? Not according to all those who continue to get in touch with this newspaper.<\/p>\n

And what did TransPennine Express do when Mr Goodwin\u2019s piece was published in print, and online, on Tuesday? Sarah Humphries, the media relations manager, emailed me and requested that a photo be used of one of their new trains. Is this all they care about?<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s another challenge after I wrote a column on Thursday calling for a series of customer service commitments to be included in all future rail franchises.<\/p>\n

How about Mr Goodwin meeting rail campaigners in Marsden and Slaithwaite in person so he has a better understanding of their anguish and hardship?<\/p>\n

There are two problems \u2013 Mr Goodwin\u2019s willingness, given his track record as one of the rail industry\u2019s faceless bureaucrats, and whether he will actually be able to get there on one of his own trains. A real public servant would readily agree. I\u2019ll report back next week.<\/p>\n

Read more at: https:\/\/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/tom-richmond-why-under-fire-rail-boss-needs-to-take-a-trip-to-meet-his-customers-here-s-the-invite-1-9295470<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Richmond: Why under-fire rail boss needs to take a trip to meet his customers. Here\u2019s the invite [from the Yorkshire Post, Saturday 11 August 2018] The managing director of troubled train operator TransPennine Express, Leo Goodwin, has now broken … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,58,53,18],"tags":[8,32,24,62],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marsden","category-slaithwaite","category-timetable-changes-2","category-tpe-services","tag-marsden","tag-slaithwaite","tag-timetable-changes","tag-tpe-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}