Arriva is on right tracks, say rail users

Overall, passenger satisfaction for the company has increased to 89 per cent, a five per cent increase on the same period last year and nearly 10 per cent above the national average.

The results have been published in the latest National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) and show Arriva is bucking the trend, with passenger satisfaction nationally falling from 82 per cent to 80 per cent in 12 months.

Arriva, which runs a service from Birmingham New Street, through Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury, is now ranked joint seventh out of 23 Train Operating Companies across Britain in terms of passenger happiness.

Arriva Trains Wales has also been highlighted as the best performing train operator in Britain in April and May for 'Right Time Performance' with a figure of 86.6 per cent.

Right-time performance measures the percentage of trains arriving at their terminating station early or within 59 seconds of schedule.

Lynne Milligan, customer services director at Arriva Trains Wales, said: "The positive results to come out of the latest National Rail Passenger Survey is as a result of the hard work and dedication of our 2,000 plus staff to continually improve services across a number of key delivery areas such as train punctuality, customer service and passenger facilities.

"We all acknowledge there is still much work to be done.

"Through our work with Welsh Government and other funding bodies and Network Rail we are continuing to enhance our network to create a great customer experience.

"We will also continue to review our performance and customer service levels to continue to ensure passenger satisfaction remains at the highest possible levels."

The survey is carried out by the group Transport Focus.

Its chief executive Anthony Smith said: "Passengers in Wales suffered significant disruption in 2014 so we worked with Arriva to review how it had handled things.

"We welcome the positive way Arriva Trains Wales responded to our recommendations – working to improve communications and provision of information to passengers.

"They also took action to deliver better reliability and increase train capacity, which are key priorities for passengers in Wales."

Other key improvements in the survey for Arriva Trains Wales include a nine per cent rise in satisfaction with the attitude and helpfulness of the staff at stations, and an eight per cent increase in the satisfaction of customers in the upkeep and repair of station buildings and platforms.

The picture was not so positive nationally.

Fewer than half of the 31,000 passengers surveyed reckoned their service offered good value for money, while the proportion of passengers satisfied with punctuality and reliability dipped from 77 per cent in spring 2014 to 75 per cent in spring 2015.

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: "Too often many passengers are not getting the service they deserve, and for this we are sorry."