“We’d like to apologise. Our service has been nowhere near good enough and we’ve let our customers down. This isn’t about words. We have a new team at the top and our job is to turn things round as quickly as possible.”
These are the words of David Whitley, head of customer experience at London Northwestern Railway which operates trains on the line into London Euston.
The rail boss has spoken out after months of disruption for frustrated customers and pressure from community leaders, including local MPs, to address the problems.
Mr Whitley told KingsNews that a new five-point plan to address the problems since a new timetable was introduced last May is currently in place.
He explained: “The timetable was too ambitious and complex to deliver. This is about rolling back, avoiding delays and improving reliability. It’s about getting to London on time and with a seat. We’ve introduced an extra 2,000 seats since May and over the next couple of months, we’ll be introducing another 7,000 seats.”
Mr Whitley said new trains will be introduced, more staff will be hired, and the availability of carriages will also improve.
The way London Northwestern responds to delays will also be transformed with three train per hour contingency plans and new technology set to improve communication between passengers, station and train staff.
Mr Whitley said he is acutely aware of problems experienced by customers.
He said: “We’ve been travelling with them and speaking with them to find out what the key issues are. Providing reliable train service is something we take seriously – commuting shouldn’t be a stressful experience and leisure travel shouldn’t be filled with uncertainty.
“We’ve already made significant progress – 30 per cent more trains are running on time. The delays caused by ourselves are down by 60 per cent so we’re going in the right direction. We have 40 carriages coming and have addressed key trains in the morning.
“I want people to be much happier. I want peak performance to be better than where it was before May with a long period of reliability and customer satisfaction. A better train service and better customer information will lead to happier customers and happier staff.”
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