Northern Trains has been placed at the bottom of a new league table assessing rail companies' provision of passenger assistance, while Avanti West Coast emerged as one of the top performers. The findings, published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), have triggered a formal investigation into Northern's operations, particularly concerning staff training deficiencies.
Regulator's Assessment Reveals Reliability Concerns
Fourteen train operators alongside Network Rail were evaluated by the regulator based on assistance delivery reliability and passenger satisfaction metrics spanning from 2022 to 2025. The comprehensive assessment highlighted that while passengers generally express satisfaction with the quality of assistance when it is actually provided, the consistency of delivery remains problematic. Alarmingly, 11% of passengers reported receiving none of the assistance they had pre-booked during the 2024/25 period.
Southeastern, LNER, and Network Rail achieved the highest reliability scores, with Avanti West Coast following closely behind. In stark contrast, Northern Trains recorded the lowest reliability score in the benchmarking exercise. The company, which operates primarily from Liverpool Lime Street station with additional stops at Liverpool South Parkway, runs 2,650 daily services to over 500 stations across Northern England, making it the UK's second-largest train operator.
Formal Investigation into Training Failures
The ORR has initiated a formal investigation into Northern Trains following revelations that approximately 800 passenger-facing staff had not completed mandatory disability awareness training last year. The investigation will specifically examine how long untrained staff interacted with disabled passengers, the circumstances that led to this training gap, and how Northern can provide assurance that its recent training initiatives will be effective in preventing similar situations from recurring.
Stephanie Tobyn from the ORR emphasised the critical importance of reliable assistance services: "Passenger assistance is essential for many older and disabled people. When it works well, it gives freedom and confidence. But as our reporting shows, there are too many instances where the service has not been delivered as promised. We are seeing demand for assistance grow. It's essential that operators meet passenger needs and we've taken action on the poorest performing operators to ensure that the reliability and consistency of service for their passengers improves."
Blind and Partially Sighted Passengers Face Significant Challenges
New research from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) reveals profound concerns among blind and partially sighted rail users. Three-quarters of respondents stated they cannot rely on rail staff for assistance and information, while over 60% reported not being consistently met by staff at stations when they have booked passenger assistance. A similar proportion expressed lack of confidence that train staff would alert them if their train's destination changed during their journey.
Physical safety remains a serious concern, with Erik Matthies, RNIB's lead for travel and transport, stating: "Far too many people with sight loss are frequently stuck at stations unable to board or change trains and face the stressful experience of having to seek help and locate platforms and carriages themselves. They have to contend with challenging ticket buying methods, inaccessible stations, platforms and on-board facilities like toilets, and inconsistent gaps between the train and platform edges which contribute to anxious, potentially unsafe journeys."
Information Accessibility Failures
The RNIB's research report, titled "Platform for Change: making rail journeys more accessible for people with sight loss," further identifies systemic failures in providing information in accessible formats. Rail companies are consistently failing to deliver information through ticket machines, apps, websites, signage, and platform guidance in formats that blind and partially sighted passengers can understand. This extends to navigation assistance for locating platforms, carriages, and facilities such as buffets and train toilets.
In response to these findings, RNIB is calling on the Government and transport bodies to ensure accessibility is fundamentally embedded within the forthcoming Great British Railways bill, advocating for systemic improvements rather than piecemeal solutions.
