Office of Rail and Road publish stats on rail complaints, punctuality and compensation

ORR has published statistics on passenger rail service complaints for the second quarter of 2020-21 (July, August, September).

This revealed that nationally there were 41,183 complaints closed by train operators in 2020-21 Q2, this represents a decrease of 69.3% from 2019-20 Q2 where there were 134,313 complaints closed.

Complaints about personal security on board the train accounted for 6.9% of all complaints closed (up 5.5pp from 2019-20 Q2). This is the highest since the time series started in 2013- 14 and is likely due to complaints related to coronavirus (COVID-19), such as the use of face masks on board the train.

The stats also show that less people were complaining about sufficient room for all passengers on trains, down 5.6% percentage points compared to 2019-20 Q2.

Ticketing and refunds policy was the most complained about category, accounting for 13.6% of all complaints closed.

Complaints about punctuality and reliability was the second most common cause of complaint, with 11.6% of all complaints made (down 13.2pp from 2019-20 Q2). This is the second quarter in a row  that punctuality and reliability has not been the most complained about category.

ORR train punctuality statistics for 2020-21 Q2 show that nationally 79.3% of recorded station stops were arrived at early or less than one minute after the scheduled arrival time. This is an increase of 14.3pp (i.e. better) from the same quarter in 2019-20.

However, delay compensation statistics also published today show there were 145,158 delay compensation claims closed by train operators during 2020-21 rail periods 5 to 7 (26 July 2020 to 17 October 2020). This is a decrease of 89.8% from 1.4 million claims closed during the same rail periods in 2019-20.

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