A programme of improvements to customer information have not only benefited Southeastern train passengers but have had a much wider benefit to the whole rail industry – culminating in success at Friday’s Railway Innovation Awards, organised by Modern Railways.
Southeastern won the Innovation Award in the Passenger Experience category, following a sustained programme of investment and improvement in partnership with Worldline and Fabrik Communications.
Video showing dynamic route map from Fabrik Communications
John Till, Southeastern’s Head of Information Delivery said:
“First and foremost, our customers want a reliable, punctual and affordable service, but we’re acutely aware that they want to be kept informed on when their service is expected, which platform it is on, and whether there’s any delay or cancellation.
“Research shows us that giving passengers timely, accurate information can improve satisfaction levels with the way that planned disruption was managed.
“That’s why we work to the principles of ‘four Cs’ for information delivery: clear, consistent, correct and concise.
“Higher awareness of disruption also leads to greater acceptance of the alternatives – our customers can cope better with disruption and bus replacements if they’re able to plan for it.
“We’re proud of this award which has resulted from a winning collaboration with our partners to develop ground-breaking, innovative and industry-leading enhancements, with our Worldline Customer Information System (CIS) driving CIS displays and automated PA announcements, and the work we’ve done with with Fabrik Communications to introduce new and innovative tools – such as our live map and information management system.
“We constantly monitor the service we provide on board our trains and at our stations, through a mixture of mystery shopping and auditing, measuring key aspects of facilities and customer service. When it comes to customer information our regular audits show that up to four in five passengers score us highly. But we won’t stop there.”
Johnny Astbury, Chief Executive Officer of Worldline UK and Ireland, said: “Here at Worldline, we understand how important clear and concise communication is for customers, especially in the context of transport and mobility.
“We are proud to have had the opportunity to work in partnership with Southeastern and Fabrik to make integral improvements to passenger information systems and improve the passenger experience. Innovation and cooperation are core values of Worldline and it is great to see them in practice.”
Stewart Wells, Senior Project Manager for Fabrik Communications, said: “Fabrik is proud to have been involved in the development of the Dynamic Rail Map and Information Management System with Southeastern.
“As rail users ourselves, we have a passion for using technology to improve the customer experience for rail users, a vision that we know Southeastern also share. We look forward to working closely with John and his team on future enhancements.”
Improvements have included:
- A more personal approach: Our announcements are now not only more informative, but they also have a personal touch. For example, delay information has been simplified and enhanced to become more passenger-friendly – “We’re sorry that the 10:02 service to London Charing Cross has been delayed and is now expected to arrive at 10:28, this is due to a trespasser on the line”.
- Accurate delay information: Trains used to be advertised as being ‘delayed’ without any further indication as to how late they are. We now provide extra information, so passengers have the reassurance that the train is moving as the current location updates. In response to customer feedback from early morning commuters we have worked in collaboration with Worldline to enhance the CIS system to make announcements during times when the CIS is usually 'silent'.
- ‘Event-driven’ announcements: We now can schedule announcements based on specific events such as terminating trains. These are particularly useful during engineering work when passengers need to know about the replacement bus service. When applicable, a phrase is added to the end of announcements advising passengers that they may be entitled to compensation.
- Advertising the unavailability of lifts and toilets: It is vital that train travel is accessible to everyone, and this enhancement allows passengers the opportunity to board a different service with working toilets should they choose. This is particularly important for those with medical conditions. If a passenger with limited mobility plans to travel to a station where the lifts are out of order, they need to be made aware beforehand. This functionality has been enhanced to provide passengers with the details of the nearest alternative station on the same line of the route that has step-free access.
- Warning of Future Delays (WoFD) enhancements: Passengers are now informed, not only of the risk of a delay, but also the reason for the delay to their train before it reaches the disrupted part of its route.
- Typical train crowding levels: This benefits passengers as they can make an informed decision on which service they wish to travel on to avoid being on an overcrowded service or unable to sit.
- Enhanced information for partially cancelled and terminated services: Previously, when a train was delayed and the route amended, details of the missed station(s) were only provided in the 'pre-departure' announcement, which didn't give passengers sufficient notice to alter their travel plans. Now missed calling points information is included in the first announcement, as is the next fastest train to the cancelled station(s).
- Delay reason semi-automation: During times of significant disruption, the reason for the delay used to be manually entered into the CIS. Now passengers are informed of any disruptions to their journey. In 2015, only 18.9% of Southeastern trains that were delayed by more than 5 minutes had a reason applied – the latest figures now show this being 83.3% (compared to industry figures of 15.1% and 44.7% respectively).
Underpinning the improvements, a web-based application has been designed in collaboration (Southeastern Information Management System – SEIMS) with Fab Digital to allow control staff to deliver a better customer experience during disruption.
This allows staff to automatically monitor trains that have been stationary for a period on one easy-to-use console, so that no service is missed and passengers can make other arrangements, as well as identifying any stations that will see a significant service gap considering on-the-day service changes when it’s necessary to thin out or cancel services.
In addition, Southeastern’s control room can identify imminent issues and pre-empt them using an easy-to-use time graph that prioritises issues either based on immediacy or severity, prioritising certain key train services and monitoring them in real-time, rather than the information be based on the experience of a member of staff or an old static document.
A dynamic rail map also meets the needs of customers by providing an overview of the current network status, presented graphically for easy ‘at-a-glance’ viewing, with a click-throughs to a live departure board allowing customers to drill down and see what it means in terms of their journey.
Disruption is presented using an easy-to-understand traffic light indication which shows the service status between each adjacent station against a simple definition. Even routes whether or not service is planned (such as overnight or during engineering work) are also shown. By using established industry systems, the information presented is in step with other information channels.
During disruption, the map also presents information on alternative bus, tube and rail routes that are relevant to journeys around the point of disruption.
