How rail companies can get on the right track

Londoners are preparing for major disruption to their travel plans this May bank holiday, as work across more than 800 rail projects gets underway to help combat overcrowding on Britains railways.

The engineering works will mean no trains at London Cannon Street and through Lewisham from Saturday to Monday, along with major work between London Paddington and Maidenhead until Tuesday.

Coupled with South Eastern also telling their customers to expect delays to services for the next five years, it means commuters patience may well be wearing thin.

Read more: Londoners warned of May bank holiday disruption

Transport is a particularly challenging sector for customer service, especially in London, due to multiple pressure points on rail lines and the sheer numbers of passengers.

Transport is the lowest rated sector by UK consumers (according to our UK Customer Satisfaction Index) – with dissatisfaction in the rail sector hitting rock bottom.

Most people cant choose their rail operators, making poor service even more frustrating.

Customer service issues related to solving problems with transport providers cost an average of £2.3bn to the economy a year. The responsibility lies with transport operators to ensure that problems are prevented at the source and customer service interactions are right first time.

It is evident that improvements need to be made within the rail sector, and a core focus has to be around transparency. Honest communication by rail providers is critical to show some empathy for the inconvenience commuters face.

Apologies need to be more personalised, and providers need to respond quickly to customers issues to help build trust.

The industry should take two key steps: recognise social media as a valuable channel for customer feedback, and invest in its staff.

Clearly, a major factor of rail customer satisfaction is service reliability, but our research identifies that staff attitude and behaviour are essential drivers too.

Customers are more concerned today about the overall experience than they were five years ago, and developing interpersonal skills is an essential part of improving this.

Providers should invest in more staff during disruptive times and employ the most competent team to navigate through certain issues.

Another major issue surrounding rail disruption is compensation. When there is disruption and lateness, compensation should happen automatically.

Often making a claim can be a frustrating and lengthy process, but rather than put customers off, our research shows that it damages reputation further, and could cost companies millions of customers.

Train companies shouldnt focus on the fact that many commuters have no choice but to use a specific service – the reality is that contracts will not be handed out constantly to companies which fail in these areas.

Employees who attend regular training are, on average, 62 per cent more productive at work. The rail industry has a huge opportunity to respond with a real focus on speed, efficiency and making the customer feel valued.

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CityAM

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