Northern told to improve support for train passengers with disabilities

Northern has been told by the rail regulator 'to deliver sustainable improvements' to the way it supports passengers with disabilities and those who need assistance. The Office of Rail and Road has written to the train operator saying it wants a 'plan' to be set out.

The ORR said Northern, which runs trains across Greater Manchester and the north west, rated poorly in its latest survey about the experience of passengers who pre-booked additional assistance with their journey.

It showed 18 per cent of passengers who booked assistance at a Northern-managed station and responded to the survey reported they did not receive any.

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In a statement, the regulator said: "The ORR wrote to Northern in July, but Northern's response did not reassure the rail regulator that it understands the causes of its poor performance, nor has robust plans in place to secure improvements, nor has made appropriate progress against previously planned actions.

"As a result, ORR has requested Northern to submit an improvement plan for how it delivers assistance to disabled passengers, setting out planned actions and explaining how it will make a difference to how Northern improves its reliability in providing assistance."

Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform, said: "Northern Trains is not reliably helping disabled passengers on its trains. It is important that Northern understands why this is, and reduces the risk of failing these passengers. While passengers regularly give positive feedback for Northern when it does get things right, doing this reliably remains a significant problem.

"Our call today is for the train company to focus its