More than 8,700 people participated in the Experiences of Passenger Assist survey, and while 94% of passengers were satisfied with the assistance they received, the service remains inconsistent with 11% reporting that they received none of the assistance that they booked, similar to the 12% reported last year.
Other key findings from the report:
- 88% were satisfied with the service from booking to receiving assistance in 2024-2025 compared to 87% in 2023-2024
- Four in five (82%) passengers who booked assistance felt they were met in an acceptable time frame, compared to 80% in 2023-2024
- The proportion of passengers who were not met at all stayed the same in both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 (10%).
- The proportion of passengers who received all of the assistance that they booked (78%) remained comparable to 2023-2024 (76%).
Northern remains among the poorest performers for the reliability of assistance, however ORR has noted it is making good progress on the delivery of an improvement plan. The regulator added it will focus its attention to monitoring whether these improvements result in benefits for Northern’s passengers.
In its latest Annual Rail Consumer Report, out today, ORR set out its priorities for rail accessibility for the coming year, which includes its first report ranking each operator on how well it is delivering assistance, having today published its revised framework following a consultation.
Operators will be marked on reliability, passenger satisfaction and staff training. The poorest performing operators will also be assessed on their capability to improve, including considering how they monitor their delivery of assistance and how they identify risks that affect performance. The first report will be published this autumn.
The regulator also said it would continue to support operators looking to enhance how they communicate and record assistance requests; and provide an update on how it will take forward its proposal to revise its Accessible Travel Policy guidance so that redress claims are always considered based on the circumstances in each case.
ORR will also monitor Network Rail’s improvement plan to address the reliability issues with lifts at its stations. Recent annual data showed a 42% increase in the number of faults across the rail network that put lifts out of service for over one week.
And the regulator will continue to liaise with operators acting on recommendations for improving passenger information for planned rail replacement services. In a letter to industry this month, the regulator said further progress has been made, with nine operators providing better accessibility information about their replacement services on their websites.
Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform said:
Notes to editors
- Annual Rail Consumer Report
- Experiences of Passenger Assist 2024-25
- Benchmarking operators’ performance in rail passenger assistance - revised framework and summary of consultation responses
- The Annual Rail Consumer report looks at ORR’s duties relating to ticket retailing and passenger rights; passenger information; accessible travel, complaints and compensation and The Rail Ombudsman. It also notes the review of train operators’ revenue protection practices, commissioned by the Department for Transport and published in June, and sets out ORR’s priorities for the year ahead
- Better rail customer service: ORR has a key role to improve the rail passenger experience in the consumer areas for which we have regulatory responsibility and take prompt and effective action to improve the service that passengers receive where it is required.