Examination of Witnesses (Question Numbers
120-126)
DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORT, NETWORK
RAIL, OFFICE
OF RAIL
REGULATION AND
ASSOCIATION OF
TRAIN OPERATING
COMPANIES
4 JUNE 2008
Q120 Chairman: What about the way
the staff deal with the passengers?
Mr Franks: I would like to think
there has been some improvement. GNER in their time did a good
job with the staff on the East Coast Main Line and I think towards
the end of the franchise some heads went down; I think some heads
have come back up now. I would like to think that we have made
an immediate impact but I think there is always a lot to do to
keep that going.
Q121 Chairman: Do you mind if I ask
a purely personal question? Mobile phones drive me absolutely
round the bend on trains. Why do you not have a quiet coach in
first class as well as second class? Or extend quiet coaches generally?
There is nothing worse than people who just witter inanities into
their mobile phone endlessly.
Mr Franks: It is a difficult balance
because there are a limited number of seats in first class and
a lot of people want to use the space to actually work.
Q122 Chairman: We are in the era
now of blackberries and texting and all the rest of it. It is
not necessary for people to have lengthy meetings on their mobile
phones, is it?
Mr Franks: It is a difficult call.
Some people would say that but other people would say they want
to be able to use their mobile phones.
Q123 Chairman: So you are not going
to do anything about it.
Mr Franks: I will certainly take
the point you have made.
Q124 Mr Davidson: Perhaps you could
have a special section for boring calls and another for interesting
calls. Some of the calls I hear are actually quite interesting.
People obviously have far more exciting lives than I do! Going
back to the question of compensation Dr Mitchell, I see in paragraph
3.12 that there are negotiations under way to have harmonisation
of compensation as part of the franchise agreement. Do you have
any idea when that is likely to take place and are you meeting
with any resistance?
Dr Mitchell: I would not say that
we are meeting with any resistance, but we have so far got to
delay repay arrangements with a large number of franchises. I
can give you the list here if you wish: Arriva Cross Country,
East Midlands Trains, Chiltern Railways, First Capital Connect,
Gatwick Express, London Midland and the two National Express East
Anglia and East Coast franchises. We would expect, to answer your
question directly, to complete that when we complete the full
round of franchises.
Q125 Mr Davidson: None of the new
arrangements are worse than the best of the previous arrangements.
Dr Mitchell: No, that is correct.
In fact there is a fair amount of evidence that the individuals
who are delayed are getting a better deal from the new arrangements
than they were out of the more generalised season ticket discounts
and other arrangements that applied before.
Q126 Mr Davidson: Just to be clear,
the new arrangements are better than all the old arrangements,
are they?
Dr Mitchell: We believe so, yes.
Chairman: Thank you very much gentlemen.
As trains become more popular they become more crowded and we
are still looking at 10,000 days of delays suffered by travellers
so there is a lot of hard work still to be done, but we are grateful
for your efforts. If one thing comes from this hearing I am sure
we would like to stress the absolute vital importance of sharing
information as quickly as possible with passengers. Thank you
very much.
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