§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will take measures to ensure that(a) standards of reliability, cleanliness and safety on the railways are improved and (b) period ticket holders are given an uncomplicated system allowing them to claim fair, immediate and adequate compensation when poor service is provided. [50330]
§ Dr. StrangThe Government are reviewing the regulation of the railway as part of our overall review of transport policy, and our proposals for its long term reform will be published in our forthcoming White Paper.
Under the existing arrangements for the railway, train operators must comply with the terms of their franchise agreement with the Franchising Director. The franchise agreement set standards for train reliability and include provision for the monitoring and enforcement of these standards; and require operators to clean stations regularly. There are no industry-wide standards for train cleanliness; however, some operators monitor train cleanliness as an element of the regular surveys of customer satisfaction that they are obliged to undertake. The Government look to the Health and Safety Commission and Executive, as safety regulators for the railways, to use their advisory and enforcement powers as appropriate to see that rail safety standards are maintained and improved where necessary.
Period ticket holders are compensated for poor performance under the terms of the relevant operator's Passenger's Charter, which is required by the Franchising Director to include a compensation scheme at least as favourable to passengers as that which was operated by 179W British Rail. The Franchising Director continues to seek improvements to Charters whenever suitable opportunities arise.