{"id":328319,"date":"2025-12-12T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=00e1d9a2de928348950e9d6a6fd37872"},"modified":"2025-12-12T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:00:00","slug":"rail-passenger-assistance-ranked-for-first-time-by-orr-as-regulator-investigates-northern-trains-disability-awareness-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=328319","title":{"rendered":"Rail passenger assistance ranked for first time by ORR, as regulator investigates Northern Trains\u2019 disability awareness training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Rail passenger assistance ranked for first time by ORR, as regulator investigates Northern Trains\u2019 disability awareness training  <\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\"><time datetime=\"2025-12-12T09:00:00+00:00\" title=\"Friday, 12 December, 2025 - 09:00\" class=\"datetime\">Fri, 12\/12\/2025 &#8211; 09:00<\/time><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"orr-published-date\">12 December 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-standfirst field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item\">The\u00a0Office of Rail and Road\u00a0has\u00a0today\u00a0published its\u00a0first annual benchmarking report on train and station operators\u2019 delivery of passenger\u00a0assistance.\u00a0The findings highlight that while passengers are\u00a0generally satisfied\u00a0with\u00a0the\u00a0standard of\u00a0assistance\u00a0when it is delivered, delivery itself can be unreliable with 11% of passengers reporting that they received none of\u00a0the\u00a0assistance\u00a0they booked in 2024\/25.<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-cover-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Cover Image<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode-demo-cover\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Image<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">  <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/demo_cover\/public\/2024-04\/mobility-scooter-user-news-cover.jpg?itok=6RMywNMV\" width=\"1020\" height=\"575\" alt=\"Mobility scooter user and other passengers at a railway station\" class=\"image-style-demo-cover\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Body<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-components field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-visually_hidden\">\n<div class=\"field__label visually-hidden\">Components<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>ORR assessed 14 train&nbsp;operators&nbsp;plus Network Rail&nbsp;for their reliability of&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;delivery and&nbsp;for&nbsp;passenger satisfaction from 2022&nbsp;to 2025.&nbsp;Southeastern, LNER and Network Rail delivered the highest reliability, closely followed by Avanti West Coast. Two operators&nbsp;who&nbsp;underperformed on&nbsp;key criteria&nbsp;(South Western&nbsp;Railway&nbsp;and West Midlands Trains)&nbsp;were&nbsp;also&nbsp;assessed&nbsp;separately&nbsp;on their capability to improve and asked to provide action plans.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The table below ranks each&nbsp;operator\u2019s performance in delivering assistance&nbsp;over the past three years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/2025-12-04%20benchmarking%20league%20table.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"861bcfc4-06f8-44f8-b752-5b9e8c70fba5\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"Operators are ranked by reliability (derived from the proportion receiving none of the assistance booked). A colour spectrum of yellow to red has been applied to these numbers, with the lowest number (8%) in yellow and highest number (16%) in red. Both satisfaction metrics (with assistance received at station, and with staff knowledge and proficiency at station) have a green to yellow colour spectrum applied, with the highest numbers (96%) in green and lowest (90%) in yellow. The overall delivery score applied to each station operator has a dark blue to light blue colour spectrum applied, with the lowest score (88) in dark blue and highest score (94) in light blue.\" width=\"1185\" height=\"890\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>ORR action on poorest performing operators:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Both SWR and WMT showed a pattern of sustained&nbsp;poor performance in delivering reliable passenger assistance, leading ORR to conduct full \u2018capability to improve\u2019 assessments. As a result of ORR\u2019s in-depth assessments, both SWR and WMT have been asked to&nbsp;submit&nbsp;detailed action plans based on the review and ORR\u2019s recommendations. Additionally, WMT has been asked to commission an independent review of its passenger&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;delivery. SWR&nbsp;is required to&nbsp;comply by 31 January 2026 and WMT by 31 March 2026<\/li>\n<li>Northern&nbsp;Trains&nbsp;recorded the lowest reliability score in the benchmarking assessment,&nbsp;and during 2025&nbsp;it&nbsp;implemented an&nbsp;improvement plan&nbsp;in response to&nbsp;concerns&nbsp;raised by ORR in 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;In August 2025, in response to ORR\u2019s&nbsp;new approach&nbsp;to monitoring training delivery, Northern reported that around 800&nbsp;passenger-facing&nbsp;staff&nbsp;had not completed disability awareness training.&nbsp;&nbsp;ORR has&nbsp;now opened a formal licence investigation to establish:&nbsp;i) how long Northern passenger-facing staff who had not received required training were interacting with disabled passengers; ii) the circumstances that led to this; iii) how Northern can provide assurance that its recent training has been effective and iv) ensure a similar situation will not arise in future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From 2026, ORR plans to expand the benchmarking framework to include new data sources and measures &#8211; such as post-assistance&nbsp;passenger confidence, staff training compliance, Turn Up and Go reliability, and Passenger Assistance app feedback.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stephanie Tobyn, ORR\u2019s director of policy, strategy and reform, said:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"styling-options--alignment--right pull-quote-size--big paragraph paragraph--type--pull-quote paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote-container\">\n<div class=\"pull-quote-text\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>&#8220;Passenger&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;is essential for many older and disabled people. When it works well, it gives freedom and confidence.&nbsp;But as our&nbsp;reporting&nbsp;shows, there are too many instances where the service has not been delivered as promised, which can have&nbsp;serious consequences&nbsp;for the&nbsp;passenger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeing demand for&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;grow.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;essential that operators meet passenger needs and&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;taken action&nbsp;on the poorest performing operators&nbsp;to ensure that the reliability and consistency of service for their passengers improves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__item\">\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--text paragraph--view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-text field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<h2>Notes to Editors<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/benchmarking-operators-performance-rail-passenger-assistance-2025-report\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"c21887bc-1f6e-4353-8298-875a58e1560f\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\">Passenger Assist benchmarking report 2024-25<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-12\/2025-12-04-letter-to-northern-investigation-initiation.pdf\" data-entity-type=\"media\" data-entity-uuid=\"a051b75f-861f-4145-baf1-98bb7314100b\" data-entity-substitution=\"media\">Letter to Northern<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The benchmarking framework focuses on two areas:<\/li>\n<li>Delivery performance \u2013 how reliably&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;is provided, alongside passenger satisfaction and staff knowledge.&nbsp;\u2018Assistance\u2019 includes help with boarding,&nbsp;alighting&nbsp;and navigating stations, and is a core requirement under operators\u2019 [Accessible Travel Policies and]&nbsp;licence&nbsp;obligations.<\/li>\n<li>Capability to Improve \u2013 a&nbsp;qualitative assessment of organisational capacity to strengthen delivery, targeted at operators with sustained poor performance.<\/li>\n<li>The&nbsp;\u2018delivery\u2019&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;is&nbsp;based on data collected through&nbsp;our Experiences of Passenger Assist survey&nbsp;between April 2022 and March 2025 &#8211; 26,306&nbsp;responses were analysed. ORR gave greater emphasis to the most recent year (weighted 1:2:3). An overall delivery score was then calculated using the following weightings: 50% for reliability,&nbsp;25% for satisfaction, and 25%&nbsp;for staff knowledge and proficiency.&nbsp;As the scores for the latter&nbsp;two metrics placed all operators in a narrow performance band, for 2025 it was decided to rank operators based on reliability as the key metric for&nbsp;delivery. The 14&nbsp;train&nbsp;operators&nbsp;assessed,&nbsp;and Network Rail,&nbsp;met the threshold of at least 50 survey responses per year.<\/li>\n<li>Transport for Wales, like WMT, managed a score of&nbsp;14% for reliability (i.e.&nbsp;the&nbsp;proportion receiving none of the&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;booked) but responded well&nbsp;to the concerns raised by ORR when challenged earlier this year.<\/li>\n<li>All train and station&nbsp;operators must&nbsp;establish&nbsp;and&nbsp;comply with&nbsp;an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) as a condition of their&nbsp;licence, setting out their provision for&nbsp;disabled&nbsp;people. Operators must secure ORR approval for their ATP, and we have issued\u202fguidance\u202fthat defines&nbsp;minimum&nbsp;requirements, covering areas such as provision of&nbsp;assistance, staff&nbsp;training&nbsp;and passenger information. Passengers&nbsp;may either&nbsp;book&nbsp;assistance&nbsp;in advance (up to two hours ahead of the journey) or \u2018turn-up-and-go\u2019 (TUAG).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-related-links field--type-link field--label-above page__related page__related--links\">\n<div class=\"field__label\">Related links<\/div>\n<div class=\"field__items\">\n<div class=\"field__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orr.gov.uk\/benchmarking-operators-performance-rail-passenger-assistance-2025-report\">Benchmarking operators\u2019 performance in rail passenger assistance: 2025 report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rail passenger assistance ranked for first time by ORR, as regulator investigates Northern Trains\u2019 disability awareness training<br \/>\nFri, 12\/12\/2025 &#8211; 09:00<\/p>\n<p>12 December 2025<\/p>\n<p>            The\u00a0Office of Rail and Road\u00a0has\u00a0today\u00a0published its\u00a0first annual b&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328319"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363645,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328319\/revisions\/363645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}