Seeks feedback on a new framework to benchmark the performance of train and station operators’ delivery of assistance to rail passengers.
Train and station operators must provide assistance to rail passengers that require it. Failures to do so can leave passengers feeling angry, frustrated and helpless. As part of our role in protecting rail passengers, ORR is planning to:
- strengthen our ability to hold operators to account for poor performance in this area
- drive improvements in service provision
We are proposing a new framework for benchmarking each operator’s performance, focusing specifically on assistance delivery and their organisational capability to improve performance. We plan to introduce this in 2025 with an annual assessment that ranks the performance of each operator across a range of benchmarks.
Our consultation document sets out the proposal in more detail and includes our questions at each stage.
Who should respond
This consultation will be of interest to:
- passengers that may require assistance to travel by rail
- disabled people's organisations
- passenger transport champions
- campaigners
- train and station operators that provide assistance to passengers
- rail franchising authorities
- other rail industry bodies
- national and local governments
How to submit your response
Please read our proposal and submit your response by 14 February 2025. You can choose to:
- respond via our online form
- send an e-mail to ATP@orr.gov.uk
- write to us at:
Assistance Benchmarking Consultation,
Office of Rail and Road,
25 Cabot Square,
London, E14 4QZ - complete our Easy Read version which can be posted or emailed to us
Publishing your response
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We plan to publish all responses to this consultation on our website.
Should you wish for any information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that this may be subject to publication, or release to other parties or to disclosure, in accordance with the access to information regimes. These regimes are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Under the FOIA, there is a statutory code of practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence. In view of this, if you are seeking confidentiality for information you are providing, please explain why. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on ORR.
If you are seeking to make a response in confidence, we would also be grateful if you would annex any confidential information, or provide a non-confidential summary, so that we can publish the non-confidential aspects of your response.
Any personal data you provide to us will be used for the purposes of this consultation and will be handled in accordance with our privacy notice which sets out how we comply with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
Consent
In responding to this consultation you consent to us:
- handling your personal data for the purposes of this consultation;
- publishing your response on our website (unless you have indicated to us that you wish for your response to be treated as confidential as set out above.)
Your consent to either of the above can be withdrawn at any time. Further information about how we handle your personal data and your rights is set out in our privacy notice.
Format of responses
So that we are able to apply web standards to content on our website, we would prefer that you email us your response either in Microsoft Word format or OpenDocument Text (.odt) format. ODT files have a fully open format and do not rely on any specific piece of software.
If you send us a PDF document, please:
- create it directly from an electronic word-processed file using PDF creation software (rather than as a scanned image of a printout); and
- ensure that the PDF's security method is set to no security in the document properties.