Consumer

Rail industry plans for dealing with stranded trains require greater focus on the safety, welfare and customer experience of the passengers involved, including those with disabilities and additional needs, say the Office of Rail and Road and Transport Focus.

The Office of Rail and Road’s report, published today, finds some disabled passengers have experienced accessibility difficulties with the rail complaints process. There is also a lack of awareness of how to seek redress for booked assistance failures.

New rules will mean that from 2 April the maximum fee that train operators and ticket retailers can charge when an unused rail ticket is refunded will be reduced from £10 to £5.

- Regulator’s report on station lifts finds an average of more than six faults for each passenger lift over a year. - There’s been good progress on real-time information on lift availability, but more needs to be done across industry to make sure that all lifts can automatically report their status. - The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will take a deeper look at Network Rail’s approach to planning

Third party retailers have responded positively to the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) report published in December 2023, which showed that some retailers were not sufficiently transparent about the additional fees they charged on their websites and apps during the ticket buying process.