Memorandum submitted by Network Rail
1. Further to the Committee's announcement
of its inquiry into Personal Passenger Safety in Railway Stations,
Network Rail would like to take the opportunity to provide a number
of comments on this subject and in relation to the questions posed.
2. We do note that this inquiry is separate
from your on-going inquiry into transport security, "Travelling
without Fear", in response to which we have already made
a detailed submission. However, the committee are invited to take
our earlier submission into account as it deals in detail with
significant activities related to passenger safety such as the
£17 million upgrade of Network Rail's London CCTV network
of 2,500 cameras across our 10 directly managed London stations.
3. As the committee will be aware, although
Network Rail owns around 2,500 stations, all but 17 are leased
back to the Train Operators who manage and maintain the stations
on a day-to-day basis and are responsible for the provision of
on-station staff. Over 50% of all passenger journeys start or
finish at a station managed by Network Rail. They are the hub
of the rail network where the needs of hundreds of thousands of
people are met every day. Over 650 million people pass through
our stations every year.
4. By virtue of the size of the those stations
that Network Rail does manage (mostly the London termini and a
number of the city centre stations such as Leeds, Manchester and
Glasgow), they are all continuously staffed and are recognised
by our stakeholders as delivering high levels of personal security.
5. Whilst the National Audit Office (NAO)
grouped responses of passengers using the 28 largest "hub
stations" at the highest level, our own customer satisfaction
surveys show that there is a 92% satisfaction with security at
Network Rail's stations.
6. Overall, Network Rail strongly believes
that stations play a key role in the service provided to passengers.
Stations influence the experience at the start and end of every
journey, which is why Network Rail and its predecessor have invested
almost £400 million over the past five years in its 17 major
stations.
7. Network Rail continues to work with train
operators, the Government and other funding partners to improve
the standards and facilities at railway stations.
8. Outside of those for which we have daily
management responsibilities, we believe that there is much left
to be done to improve station environments, thereby addressing
a number of issues including safety. Network Rail has work underway
to make it easier to collaborate with other organisations to deliver
station improvements and is seeking to lever in some £4bn
of investment over the next 10 years from property developers
to help fund station improvements.
9. In respect of the Secure Stations Scheme,
with the exception of one Station currently undergoing its periodic
re-accreditation, all our stations are members of the scheme.
Obviously, as a supporter, Network Rail would welcome more activity
by all industry bodies in this area to raise passenger awareness
of, and support for, these initiatives. As we have recently completed
our own investment in improved facilities, we are keen to welcome
greater TOC participation in the schemes, particularly for stations
where there are high levels of crime.
10. Network Rail's stations therefore all
operate at a level of security above the minimum laid out in the
scheme. In addition, by way of their size and high profile, they
are subject to a wider range of inspection regimes which cover
a range of standards and processes. As such we would not propose
to comment on the impact of the scheme at the minimum level of
accreditation and inspection.
11. Of those few (8%) of passengers who
do report not feeling safe at our stations, the main reasons cited
are: threat of terrorism, lack of security presence, overcrowding,
undesirables, threat of theft, and threat of assault.
12. Our experience is that a number of simple
measures generally have a significant impact in the perceived
security of a station including: the maintenance of a clean and
well-lit environment, the prompt repair or removal of vandalism
and graffiti, a visible presence of railway or police personnel,
good signage and information, and the removal of people begging,
sleeping or loitering around the station premises.
13. The Secure Station Scheme, while specifically
covering the station and car parking facilities only, does recognises
the security elements of the "whole journey"—eg
the local street lighting, car parking facilities, the availability
of bus timetables and information, and telephone numbers and accessibility
of local taxi services—may make all the difference to the
passenger's perception of the rail journey. Again these are elements
built into our planning of station facilities and information
in as far as possible.
14. As well as independent customer surveys,
our main London termini have nominated contacts from London Travel
Watch to inspect and report on the services and facilities, our
station managers engage in face-to-face passenger contacts to
receive comments and criticisms, and we share best practice with
security and police bodies as well as members of other railway
industry bodies.
15. The overall protection and improvement
of passenger safety at stations is a concern of our Safety and
Environment Plan. The principle risk identified in this context
is through the boarding or alighting from trains at stations—something
that remains one of the main causes of passenger accidents.
16. The train operating companies are responsible
for control of this accident risk, and the replacement of Mark
1 slam-door trains with modern rolling stock with automatic doors
will reduce it. We will support the train operators in the management
of this risk by progressing the risk-based platform stepping strategy
agreed by the SRA, ORR and HSE.
17. With regards to the question of clarity
to passengers of responsibility for security, we would comment
that passengers tend to regard security holistically—believing
that the vast majority of those industry representatives they
interact with during the course of their journey bear a shared
degree of responsibility for their safety—as indeed they
and their fellow passengers do themselves.
18. As I hope the above demonstrates, Network
Rail is always striving for practical opportunities to improve
safety at our stations, we believe these efforts are delivering
results for passengers and that our staff and customers can rightly
be proud of the levels of satisfaction we are largely achieving.
30 March 2006
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