Southern Gatwick Express and Network Rail response to NRPS

Transport Focus has published the results of the spring 2016 National Rail Passenger Survey. Southern, Gatwick Express and Network Rail have responded as follows:

Southern Passenger Services Director, Alex Foulds said: “We are disappointed but not surprised with these results. The survey was carried out after a prolonged period of poor performance due to the constraints of London Bridge. The effects of a new timetable introduced in December to improve performance were then lost amidst a series of infrastructure failures which severely affected punctuality and reliability during the survey period. These coupled with the after effects of Storm Imogen and two train failures in key locations made for a pretty miserable time for passengers.

“Once through this challenging period we did start to see performance begin to improve, although this has now been overtaken by the recent industrial action.

“We recognise there is much to do and we continue to work hard with Network Rail to improve the performance of our network and our plans to improve customer service on our trains and stations, should ultimately deliver a better experience for all our passengers. We thank them for their patience.”

Southern’s plans to improve customer service include the introduction of On-Board Supervisors on trains who will be more visible and available to passengers; making staff at 83 stations more visible and available to customers on the concourse; real-time passenger information systems on our more modern trains and smart phones for platform staff, giving them the right tools to keep passengers up to date with service information.

Gatwick Express Passenger Services Director, Angie Doll said: “We fully understand the reasons why Gatwick Express didn’t score as well as the same time last year. A series of infrastructure failures which severely affected punctuality and reliability during the survey period, coupled with some cancelled trains while we trained our drivers in readiness for our new trains made for a difficult time for our passengers.

“However, we have plans to introduce improvements that will be of great benefit for our passengers over the coming weeks. Since March, passengers have continued to see and experience the benefit of the introduction of our brand new 387/2 trains to replace our 30-year old trains. These new trains have real-time passenger information systems, power sockets throughout, are Wi-Fi enabled, fully air-conditioned and are much more suited for airport passengers than the trains they are replacing. We also plan that every Gatwick Express train will have an On-board Supervisor between Gatwick and Victoria to offer great customer service.

“Gatwick Station we will see a new Gatwick Express Lounge including a dedicated entrance portal to platforms 5/6, new seating and a 'countdown' clock to the next Gatwick Express service to London and we’ll also be launching a new Gatwick Express phone app to assist with customer journeys from train to plane and plane to train.”

Network Rail’s area director Steve Knight said: “Our job is to provide Southern with the best infrastructure possible so they can run a reliable service. We faced some challenges during the winter, both with the weather and our equipment, but by working closely with Southern I’m pleased to say our railway infrastructure has been improving.

“We are continuing to work closely with them through this current industrial dispute and I’m confident that passengers will see improvements when that is resolved.”