CrossCountry has been ranked Britain’s worst train operator after a passenger survey found barely half of those on its services were satisfied with how the company dealt with delays. The watchdog Transport Focus said it had told the Birmingham-based operator to improve passenger experience, reduce delays, provide better information during disruption and cut overcrowding.
In the three months to the end of March, only 72% of CrossCountry’s station stops were made within three minutes of the schedule, while 7% of its services were cancelled outright. Of those surveyed, 79% said they were satisfied with the Arriva Group-owned operator overall, 77% reported satisfaction with punctuality and reliability, and just 46% were happy with how the company handled delays.
“CrossCountry ranked worst UK train operator with 79% satisfaction, 46% happy with delay handling.”
The operator acknowledged the findings. “We know we must do more to deliver the service our customers rightly deserve,” said Mark Anderson, CrossCountry’s customer and commercial director. He pointed to refurbished trains “transforming” journeys and a new timetable “delivering better regional connectivity”. “We’re always working to improve onboard experience – from cleaning to catering, better wi-fi and clearer information during disruption,” he said. “In particular, we know that crowding is a challenge and we’re working with industry partners to explore all possible options to ease this.”
At the other end of the scale, Hull Trains achieved the best overall satisfaction score at 94%, followed by LNER with 93%. Across all operators, 87% of passengers said they were satisfied with their journey – but disabled passengers reported lower satisfaction, at 85%.
More than 100,000 passengers were questioned in the six months to the end of March. Transport Focus chief executive Alex Robertson called the survey “the first report of its kind” and said he was “optimistic the railway understands the importance of using it to create a more customer focused culture”. He added: “We’ll be holding them to account to make sure they do.”
Robertson also highlighted the importance of handling delays well. “More than nine in 10 people would report a positive experience if a delay was handled well – a remarkably high figure given their train is late – but this falls to one in four when it isn’t,” he said.
CrossCountry, which runs long-distance trains serving cities including Cambridge, Cardiff and Manchester, now faces pressure to turn around its performance or risk further reputational damage.