Media centre

Wednesday 6 Apr 2005

NETWORK RAIL RESPONSE TO RPC REPORT ON STATIONS

Region & Route:

| Southern

The Rail Passengers Committee (RPC) Eastern England yesterday published a report following an inspection of 50 stations in Eastern England and made a call for higher standards of maintenance at the region’s rail stations. Deborah Richards, Network Rail Director of Railway Estates, responded: “We are grateful to the RPC for alerting us to areas which could benefit from improvement on our stations.  As responsible landlords, we work closely with the train operators who manage the stations to ensure that certain standards are met.”  “Safety is our first priority and work on stations is scheduled accordingly, but as an industry we also recognise the need for clean and functional facilities.  We are currently working on a number of different initiatives with the train operators to provide the best possible station environment for passengers.”  A recent station improvement scheme, funded by the Strategic Rail Authority and delivered by Network Rail, has seen £25 million invested in new facilities at stations nationwide.  The ‘Modern Facilities at Stations’ programme has provided enhancements such as new heated, secure and comfortable waiting rooms, CCTV and customer information screens at 39 stations in the East of England, with £12.4 million invested in this region alone. Of the 256 railway stations owned by Network Rail in the East of England, 167 are managed by train operator ‘one’.  Kerri Worrall, ‘one’ Communications Manager, said: “One is committed to improving facilities and the environment at its stations and is spending £11.3 million on station improvements, with more than 50 of the 167 stations we manage being upgraded within 18 months of the start of the franchise.  Refurbishments will include improved booking facilities, new customer information systems and CCTV at selected stations.” ‘One’ also operates an Adopt-A-Station scheme which is being rolled out across the new franchise.  A 100-strong team of adopters across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are all volunteers from local communities who inspect stations in addition to the standard maintenance inspections and repair work carried out by Network Rail and ‘one’ teams.  Kerri Worrall continued: “The Adopt-A-Station scheme promotes and encourages feedback about our station buildings and facilities and helps to ensure that they meet the high standards rightly expected by passengers.  Many stations have already benefited from work carried out in response to adopter feedback, including repairs and maintenance work as well as cosmetic enhancements such as flower tubs and hanging baskets.” “We also work closely with the RPC on station inspections and their feedback is very valuable in determining where we could improve our service to customers.  We recently worked with the RPC to identify best practice in toilet cleaning programmes to ensure that stations across the network come up to scratch, based on the good practice identified at Audley End station.  Many of our stations have also been smartened up in new 'one' corporate colours which has helped to improve the appearance of our stations.” Network Rail and ‘one’ will continue to work closely with the RPC, station adopters and other stakeholders to ensure that the region’s railway stations are clean, functional and welcoming for passengers.