{"id":1758,"date":"2018-08-22T17:06:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2018-08-22T17:11:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:11:32","slug":"change-needs-to-come-more-quickly-than-the-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=1758","title":{"rendered":"“Change needs to come…more quickly than the trains”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“TPEs head of communications says there\u2019s no need for MD Leo Goodwin to meet residents of Marsden and Slaithwaite who have endured hundreds of trains being delayed or cancelled since May, because its staff have good relations with the community.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe that’s because SMART are rather more polite in our dealings with TPE than passengers would like us to be.<\/p>\n

Change needs to come…more quickly than the trains<\/span><\/p>\n

[from the Yorkshire Post, Saturday 18 August 2018]<\/p>\n

If you have already had enough of the delays and disruption on the region\u2019s railways before the insult of next year\u2019s 3.2 per cent fare hike, here\u2019s a depressing prospect.<\/p>\n

Unless the Government intervenes, passengers face up to seven more years of mismanagement \u2013 and the resulting chaos. It\u2019s because First Group\u2019s TransPennine Express franchise, where a pitiful 22 per cent of trains in Yorkshire now reach their destination within 10 minutes of their scheduled time, is not due to run out until March 2023.<\/p>\n

Just one in five TransPennine Express trains are now on time. Of 37 trains to Manchester Airport last Saturday by way of example, two were cancelled, 23 either terminated early or started from the wrong station and another 11 were between 12 and 33 minutes late. I pity the holidaymakers whose travel plans were ruined. A shortage of drivers was blamed nine times \u2013 and no conductor in another two instances.<\/p>\n

As for Arriva\u2019s Northern service which now regards its Sunday timetable as an optional extra, it\u2019s due to remain in place until March 2025. For, even if the Government reviews, or refines, the franchises, the same old management will stay in place \u2013 and be exempt from any cackhanded pay cap that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling tries to impose on front line rail staff.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why the time has come for commissioners to be appointed to oversee these two franchises and their daily operation. This is what happens when council departments hit rock bottom. Yet, while train services are run by private operators, they are still heavily subsidised by the taxpayer and there must be a number of experienced professionals here \u2013 or abroad \u2013 who could provide the leadership required.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy \u2013 I suspect both Northern and TransPennine Express do not have enough drivers to fulfil their timetable obligations \u2013 but it\u2019s clear David Brown and Leo Goodwin, the respective managing directors, have lost the confidence of their employees, passengers and all politicians with the notable exception of Chris Grayling (enough said). Change can\u2019t come soon enough \u2013 in fact it needs to be quicker than most trains here.<\/p>\n

If you think the excuses of Yorkshire\u2019s under-fire rail operators sound familiar, it is because they are.<\/p>\n

The promise that TransPennine Express managing director Leo Goodwin made to \u201crestore the level of service customers expect and deserve\u201d \u2013 part of a grudging apology for The Yorkshire Post \u2013 was picked up by one eagle-eyed reader.<\/p>\n

They pointed out that the phrase \u201cexpect and deserve\u201d was first used by customer services director Kathryn O\u2019Brien in November 2014. \u201cEveryone in this business is working tirelessly on improvement plans to deliver the service levels you expect and deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The same again in March 2015. \u201cWe have some very focused performance recovery plans that really steer us back into some of the service levels that customers expect and deserve from our business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And, in her new role as customer experience director, quite an apt title given the ordeals that have been suffered by many, Ms O\u2019Brien promised this January: \u201cWe are continuing to work with industry partners…to deliver the service that customers expect and deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the PR script writer that needs changing; it\u2019s the whole franchise. And, to use words familiar to TransPennine Express, it\u2019s what commuters expect and deserve.<\/p>\n

When the National Rail Passenger Survey came out earlier this year, 86 per cent of respondents rated TransPennine Express stations as \u201csatisfied or good\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet, when it came to TPE disseminating this, it now emerges that the firm chose to use the word \u201cexcellent\u201d in its public documents. In an email, media relations manager Sarah Humphries informed a passenger: \u201cIn this instance, we\u2019ve chosen to use the word \u2018excellent\u2019 as the word \u2018satisfaction\u2019 had already been used within the press release.\u201d<\/p>\n

An email sent by an official at watchdog Transport Focus to a passenger, seen by The Yorkshire Post, conceded: \u201cI agree that use of the word \u2018excellent\u2019 is not appropriate in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

TPE head of communications Sarah Ford declined to comment \u2013 she said this issue was not relevant to the company\u2019s performance. I disagree. The issue is one of trust at a time when most passengers no longer believe TPE\u2019s utterances. She also says there\u2019s no need for MD Leo Goodwin to meet residents of Marsden and Slaithwaite who have endured hundreds of trains being delayed or cancelled since May, because its staff have good relations with the community. Try telling that to those concerned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Link at: https:\/\/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/tom-richmond-change-needs-to-come-more-quickly-than-the-trains-1-9307774<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“TPEs head of communications says there\u2019s no need for MD Leo Goodwin to meet residents of Marsden and Slaithwaite who have endured hundreds of trains being delayed or cancelled since May, because its staff have good relations with the community.” … 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":[39,59,5,58,53,18],"tags":[63,8,57,32,24,62],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fares","category-marsden","category-northern-rail","category-slaithwaite","category-timetable-changes-2","category-tpe-services","tag-fares","tag-marsden","tag-northern-rail","tag-slaithwaite","tag-timetable-changes","tag-tpe-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","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=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1759,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}