Many people will remember that I attended a meeting at Portcullis House on 7 July with MPs and bosses from AGA, I also posted a blog which was written from my point of view of the meeting. But here is a copy of the official minutes of the meeting.
Greater Anglia
Passenger Feedback Meeting
Held on 7 July 2014 in
Westminster
Notes of Meeting
In attendance:
Chloe Smith
MP
Ben Gummer
MP
Sir Bob
Russell MP
David Leaf,
Parliamentary Assistant to Priti Patel MP
Jamie
Burles, Managing Director, Abellio Greater Anglia
Jonathan
Denby, Head of Corporate Affairs, Abellio Greater Anglia
Jackie
Gibbs, Head of Service Quality Standards, Abellio Greater Anglia
James Ager –
Twitter team, Abellio Greater Anglia
Hannah
Briggs – Public Affairs Manager, Network Rail
Marie
Finbow, Strategy Manager, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership
Annabelle
Dickson – Political Editor for the EADT and EDP
Ian Edwards
Grant Lee
James Elmer
Imogen
Dempsey
Sandra
Garvey
Daniel
Collins
Introduction
Chloe Smith MP welcomed all attendees to the meeting, the
aim of which was to provide passengers with the opportunity to express the
problems they experience on the GEML and provide Abellio Greater Anglia and MPs
with the opportunity to outline how these problems will be addressed.
Problems with the
GEML
The following is a summary of the issues raised by
passengers - focusing on four key areas: comfort, cleanliness, reliability and
value for money.
·
There has been a steady increase in rail fares with
no noticeable improvements in the quality of service, cleanliness, timing or
reliability - why do rail fares continue to rise, when the quality of the
service reduces?
·
The internal maintenance of trains has
deteriorated significantly over recent years, does this apply to exterior
maintenance and if so, should there be concerns about passenger safety?
·
The service is not reliable – when trains
require maintenance there is a shortfall of carriages, leading to overcrowding.
·
Our area has suffered from underinvestment on
our railways for many years – although the GEML is one of the most profitable
lines in the country for the Department for Transport – where is this money
being spent as it is not being reinvested in our railways?
·
Passengers still have to hang out of the window
to open the door – this is not safe practice.
·
Abellio Greater Anglia rely on customers to
report faults i.e. seats/heating/broken windows, etc.
·
Trains themselves are dirty and untidy – with
discarded newspapers, filthy carpets, blocked toilets, etc and it is clear that
only emergency maintenance is being carried out.
·
In terms of reliability, the question was raised
as to why it takes so long to resume a normal service after interruptions and
there is a distinct lack of communication between the service provider and
passengers - passengers rely on Twitter for information, as drivers do not keep
passengers informed.
·
In terms of disruption management – when there
are issues on the rail lines, there are no alternative means of transport for
passengers, i.e. a replacement bus service or arrangements with the local bus
company for ticket acceptance.
·
Waste continues to be dumped onto tracks – what
is being done to prevent this practice?
·
It was strongly recommended that GA invests in
rolling stock and improves communications for passengers when there are issues
on the line.
·
Passengers want clean trains, arriving on time.
Abellio Greater Anglia response:
Abellio recognises that the trains are uncomfortable; with
carriages over 25 years’ old. The
current franchise was let on a lowest-cost basis. If Abellio, or any other service provider,
had bid for new rolling stock, it would not have won the franchise. The specification for the franchise is
governed by the Department for Transport (DfT) and is outside the control of
Abellio Greater Anglia. However, the
emphasis on this is changing - the recent franchise awarded for Thameslink and
the West Coast have seen an introduction to ‘higher quality’ thresholds. Although cost and efficiency are still
important, DfT recognise that there is a need to improve the quality of the
rolling stock and the service providers are being measured against trains
running on time.
With regard to fares increasing – this is due to a national
fares policy and outside the control of Abellio Greater Anglia.
Abellio recognise that there is an urgent need to improve on
a number of fronts. Statistics show that
since the start of franchise performance generally has been better than the
last franchise and customer surveys have also improved – but Abellio recognise
that this was because they were starting from a low base and there is still a long
way to go before the provider is able to bring the service to an acceptable
standard. The statistics show 92%
performance (which is ahead of the national average), but this is not as good as
Abellio wants to deliver on a daily basis.
However, Abellio recognises that performance on the GEML is much lower.
With regard to the recent disruption, Abellio and Network
Rail are in a difficult position as the infrastructure is not where it needs to
be from a reliability perspective. Abellio
have formed an alliance with Network Rail and this has been particularly
beneficial for customers i.e. during Olympics when trains were running on time
and response times were improved.
Following the issue at Liverpool Street two weeks ago, a
route/branch review is currently being carried out, with recommendations and
resources required for improvements to be submitted to Abellio. Abellio are working on increasing resilience
by monitoring assets through an electrical system which anticipates failure and
enables Abellio to put in preventative maintenance and prevent faults from
happening. Abellio are also reorganising
their maintenance delivery unit at Liverpool Street to be proactive in dealing
with issues.
With regards to cleanliness on the carriages, Abellio
recognises that there is a long way to go – over the years their predecessors
suffered financial difficulties and investment went on the franchise itself,
rather than on maintenance. This franchise was won on a lowest-cost basis and
then, due to the financial crisis, Abellio themselves did not make any profit on
the franchise during the first two and a half years.
In order to improve cleanliness on the trains, additional
cleaning staff have been appointed, three wash plants are being replaced and
hand-cleaning is being improved. There
is a management restructure taking place in Abellio and responsibility for
cleanliness for both the interior and exterior of trains will come under one
engineering director. Abellio are
currently consulting with unions on the proposed restructure. The aim is for this new structure to come
into effect in September. Passengers can
expect to see an improvement in cleanliness in the next few months.
With regard to the toilets, the Mark 3s are being replaced
with controlled-emission toilets. To replace the remainder of the fleet with
controlled-emission toilets would cost in the region of £15M and Abellio are
working with Network Rail to see what funding is available. Currently, passengers are not allowed to use
toilets on stations. Unfortunately
approximately 5% of passengers do not adhere to this rule and although Abellio
have tried a number of different ways to prevent passengers from using toilets
on stations, installation of controlled-emission toilets is the preferred
solution as they allow passengers to use the toilets at any time.
As well as installation of controlled-emission toilets, the
short-term franchise includes a full refurbishment on the Mark 3s which
includes new seat covers, carpets, lighting, installation of socket points and
interior and exterior repaint. This
refurbishment is costing £13M.
With regard to the Class 321s, the specification for the
longer-term franchise needs to ensure either a major refurbishment or
replacement rolling stock. There is
currently a demo unit in circulation, which Abellio are keen to get customer
feedback on. Consultation on the
specification closes in March 2015. It is extremely important that the
specification for the new long-term franchise specifies the appropriate
investment needed and the outputs required by passengers, including new rolling
stock.
With regards to passenger communications – an information
steering group has been set up between the train operator and Network Rail and
a list of 67 actions emanating from this group are currently being investigated;
some of the solutions include upgrading systems and employing additional
resources for double manning – these will have an impact over time, but are not
‘quick wins’. With regard to the
incident two weeks’ ago, the incident was reviewed and procedures have been
updated to ensure that it is not repeated.
It was noted
that information relating to the incident at Liverpool Street two weeks’ ago
has been removed from the Abellio website and passengers asked that the
information relating to the incident, including the original statement made is
put back onto the Abellio Greater Anglia website.
Action: Abellio
Greater Anglia
MPs response
Our region has suffered from poor investment on our railways
since nationalisation. There is a
significant backlog of investment required and we recognise that it will take
time to get right. For the first time,
MPs along the GEML route are working together to influence Government to get
the much-needed investment for our region.
Abellio will have the opportunity to bid for the long-term franchise
in two years’ time – this franchise will be for a seven to ten year period – if
we do not see urgent improvements between now and then, Abellio will not be
awarded the long-term contract.
It is extremely important that the specification for the
longer-term franchise reflects the investment needed and improvements required
for both the Mark 3s and the Class 321s.
The Great Eastern Main Line Taskforce are striving for
improvements on the GEML – campaigning for better, faster trains from Norwich
to London, Liverpool Street and the campaign reflects the issues that
passengers have raised today. A
campaign website is currently being developed for launching on 25 July and we need
as many supporters as possible to join the campaign. A report including recommendations for
investment on the GEML will be delivered to Government in November, with a view
to influencing the specification for the longer-term franchise.
The meeting closed at 7:50 pm.
