RAIL
need a guaranteed seat and a comfortable working space. Delays, timetable changes, strikes, overcrowding and complex pricing result in people losing confidence. “Productivity and wellbeing are increasingly seen as KPIs for travel programmes – as is the traveller experience. So a good working and resting environment, including wifi, quality food, power points and seat comfort, are areas to focus on.” Lance Goodson, managing director of Uniglobe Carter Travel, is a small rail TMC – but he has strong views on the quality of the rail experience. “On all of my recent intercity rail journeys in first class I have been heavily delayed leading to missed meetings. There were platform changes at the last minute without adequate warning, causing me to miss the train,” he says. “I have also had poor wifi connections, as well as sitting in a filthy environment with no mains power. “We need to create true competition on the same route and have more high-speed lines,” he adds. “Also I would prefer we have all major infrastructure owned and operated by UK companies, not offshoots of German or French railways.”
WILLIAMS RAIL REVIEW
It may seem odd that an ex-airline boss has been hired by the Department for Transport to chair an independent review of the government’s vision for the railways, but this is exactly what Keith Williams, British Airways’ former chief executive, has been tasked with. So what can he bring? Will Hasler, who sits on the ITM’s industry affairs
committee, believes it could work: “With his [airline] background, Williams will understand the benefits that business travellers provide. We are time-poor but the fares we pay provide the profits, and we have every right to have our voices heard.” The Williams Review could also recommend creating
a series of regional organisations to run both the trains and the infrastructure. That may create a more reliable and accountable network, but would there be meaningful competition? Hasler also expects Williams to rule out re-nationalisation, as demanded by the Labour party. The review is open for public consultation until
31 May at
smartsurvey.co.uk/s/williamsrailreview/ A Government White Paper will appear in the autumn with changes implemented from 2020.
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