Publications - Rail

A Merseyrail franchise report presented at the Passenger Focus Board meeting held in Liverpool, December 2009.

A Northern Rail franchise report presented at the Passenger Focus Board meeting held in Liverpool, December 2009.

A First TransPennine Express franchise report presented at the Passenger Focus Board Meeting held in Liverpool, December 2009.

To investigate the date when Advance tickets become available and when quotas are exhausted, we undertake a number of checks during the year. The current target outward date is Thursday 24 December 2009, returning Monday 28 December 2009.

There will be a Passenger Focus board meeting on Wednesday 16 December 2009. The event will be held in Hall 3 at the ACC Liverpool. Agenda items include a keynote address from Louise Ellman MP, Chair, House of Commons Transport Select Committee, as well as presentations from Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern Rail and Bart Schmeink, Managing Director, Mersey Rail.

Passenger Focus welcomes the significant work and analysis that has gone into preparing the Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) Draft for Consultation. The draft RUS clearly recognises the existing and future pressures on the Great Western route and sets out a strategy that, if fully implemented, will go some way towards addressing many of the significant challenges that it seeks to tackle in the period to 2019.

Birmingham New Street rail station is due to undergo significant redevelopment work to make the station a more pleasant place for passengers. The station is currently unpopular - only 54% of passengers are satisfied with the overall station environment, in stark contrast to other major stations on the rail network such as Manchester Piccadilly which show 89% of passengers are satisfied.

Passenger Focus warns of a ‘sting in the tail’ for some passengers as unregulated rail fares will go up in price. Passenger Focus, the independent passenger watchdog has highlighted that while commuters will welcome a slight reduction in most season ticket prices, many unregulated fares will rise significantly more than inflation.

Passengers are being given the chance to help shape the future of rail services in the East Midlands as the independent watchdog seeks views specifically on car parking at the station. Passenger Focus will be surveying passengers at 15 stations in the region to give them an opportunity to comment on parking capacity and satisfaction with facilities.

CrossCountry has accepted Passenger Focus’s recommendation that the results of the National Passenger Survey (NPS) will be more effective if broken down to route level. The train operator has the widest and most diverse franchise of any train operator, running services in the South, South West, East of England, Midlands, North East and Scotland.