Published on: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Last updated: Thursday, 27 June 2019
More customers are satisfied with Greater Anglia – with improvements in punctuality sparking a big increase in satisfaction levels, according to an independent survey released today.
80 per cent of Greater Anglia customers are happy with their experience, the latest National Rail Passenger Survey reveals – a jump of four points compared to last Spring and seven points better than when the survey was last conducted in the Autumn.
Stansted Express, which is managed by Greater Anglia, saw satisfaction levels of 91 per cent.
Among the biggest increase in satisfaction levels is punctuality – which saw a nine-point rise in customer satisfaction making it above the national average.
The two biggest increases in satisfaction levels were availability of wifi at stations and reliability of the internet connection on trains.
Customers are most satisfied with provision of information about train times and platforms, punctuality, and the frequency of trains.
Other categories where customers are reporting growing satisfaction levels are the level of crowding on trains and availability of seating at stations, the frequency of trains and the upkeep of stations.
Commuters’ satisfaction with Greater Anglia was up 12 points, as they reported more comfortable journeys.
Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles said: “We have been working very hard to improve every aspect of our service for our customers – from punctuality, reliability and availability of seats to planning their journey, buying their ticket and their experience on board our trains.
“It’s excellent to see that our customers have noticed improvements in all of these areas.
“However, we are not complacent, there is room for further improvement and we are determined to continue to improve our service for our customers. ”
In the last six months, Greater Anglia has teamed up with Network Rail on a major campaign to improve performance – which has seen punctuality improve every month so that it has been over 93% for three months running, with record-equalling performance of over 95% on the Great Eastern Main Line and the line to Southend Victoria.
The company has continued to invest in stations across the network, with improvements in the last year including refurbished waiting rooms and new shelters, installing LED lighting, better passenger information screens, extending car parks and installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition at 20 car parks.
In the last year, free wifi has been installed on all of Greater Anglia’s trains which run between Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and London Liverpool Street.
Major improvements are expected from this summer, as the first of Greater Anglia’s brand new trains is due to come into service, starting the transformation of the railway in East Anglia.
The company is replacing every single train with brand new trains, which will all be longer with more seats, USB and plug points, air conditioning, free wifi, accessible toilets and bike spaces.