Express & Star

Passengers railing against train firms that run through Black Country and Staffordshire

Two of the most-complained about rail operators in the country run through the Black Country and Staffordshire, new figures reveal today.

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Virgin Trains West Coast are among the most complained about operators in the country and operate in our area

Virgin Trains West Coast received 158 complaints per 100,000 passenger journeys from April to June.

The service runs from Birmingham to Scotland, stopping at Wolverhampton and Stafford.

While Arriva Trains Wales had 106 complaints made per 100,000 journeys during the same period.

The German-based firm operates the Wales and Border line, which starts from Birmingham and stops at Smethwick Galton Bridge and Wolverhampton. But it will cease running the service in October.

The two companies come second and third in a national list of the most complained about operators in the three months. Out of the 20 franchised rail operators, only the Caledonia Sleeper got more, with 196 complaints.

Other rail franchises operating in the region include Cross Country and London Midland, with 42 and 31 complaints per 100,000 passenger journeys respectively. Cross Country runs services from the South West to Manchester, stopping at Wolverhampton. London Midlands runs local services across Staffordshire, the Black Country and Birmingham.

Four out of 10 complaints to Arriva Trains Wales were over the use of smart cards on services, but 31 per cent of passengers also complained about punctuality and 13 per cent about insufficient room on trains.

On Virgin Trains West Coast, almost one in five most complaints were over the facilities on-board, followed by ticket buying, punctuality and insufficient room.

Four out of 10 complaints on Cross Country were mostly over punctuality, while a quarter were about on-board facilities and one in 10 for insufficient room.

Of London Midland passengers, more than half of complaints were about punctuality, with others unhappy about difficulties with ticket buying and insufficient room.

Campaign For Rail is a user group based in the West Midlands which attempts to work with companies to help improve services. Chairman Ian Jenkins said: “It is not as simple to run a rail franchise as some people make out. We have some sympathy.

“Arriva Trains Wales do a good job on revenue collection, but struggle with punctuality, this is not easy when you have services covering the width of Wales. I think they do a reasonable job.

“Virgin Trains West Coast sets itself a high standard in some areas such as pricing and catering, but it has suffered because of problems of the line such as the bank collapse at Watford.

“Cross Country could talk to us more, while I think London Midland have also done a good job.”

A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "The latest ORR report shows a decline in the number of complaints on the same quarter last year on both routes, and over the last year Virgin Trains received the highest rate of praise from customers compared with any other franchised operator.

"We always welcome feedback from our customers as it helps us identify any problems with our services and quickly put them right.

"However, complaint statistics are not always the best way to measure passenger satisfaction.

"In the most recent independent survey by the industry watchdog, Transport Focus, over 91 per cent of Virgin Trains customers rated us as providing a good service, and we are consistently top of the long-distance franchise sector for customer satisfaction.”