Passenger Focus today commented on the government’s announcement of the shortlisted bidders for the East Anglia and West Coast rail franchises.
Ashwin Kumar, Passenger Focus rail director said:
“Passenger Focus has asked passengers what they want from future rail franchises and will feed this back to bidders to ensure their proposals reflect passenger priorities. Namely, value for money for the price they pay; punctuality and reliability; frequency of service; journey speed; and their ability to get a seat.
“On East Anglia services, passengers will want to see real improvements to services during this interim period – they won’t want to wait until 2013 when a long-term deal is finally put in place.
“Our research shows the short-term focus for the train company appointed should be on improvements to punctuality, passenger information and train cleaning. Looking further ahead, it must be recognised that many of Greater Anglia’s trains are 30-years’ old and need to be replaced.”
