Consumer

• Industry must retain a relentless focus on safety throughout rail reform. • Financial constraints on Network Rail require careful management in the coming years. • Network Rail is taking action where train performance needs to improve. Passenger train punctuality is largely stable, but cancellations have reached record highs, with train operator cancellations the dominant factor.

The Office of Rail and Road’s latest survey shows once again there remain too many instances of passengers not receiving the help they had booked. As part of the regulator’s priorities for the coming year, it will benchmark and rate each operator on its delivery of passenger assistance to better target interventions.

The rail regulator (the Office of Rail and Road) is recommending improvements to how the rail industry handles revenue protection, making it more consistent, fairer and effective after concerns were raised about how rules are enforced.