House of Commons - Transport - Written Evidence

Select Committee on Transport Written Evidence

APPENDIX 11

Memorandum submitted by the National Audit Office

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

1. The Comptroller and Auditor General reported on maintaining and improving Britain's railway stations in July 2005. The report examined whether rail passengers were satisfied with station facilities and services and whether station requirements were being met, the barriers to station improvement and what was being done to overcome them.[14] On the basis of that report the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence from the Department for Transport, the Strategic Rail Authority, Network Rail, the Office of Rail Regulation and the Association of Train Operating Companies and issued its own report on Britain's railway stations in February 2006.[15]

2. This memorandum by the National Audit Office sets out the findings from these reports that concern passenger safety in railway stations and has been prepared with a view to assisting the Transport Committee in its consideration of this subject.

SUMMARY

— Many passengers do not feel safe at railway stations (paragraphs 3 to 7).

— Roles and responsibilities at stations are set out in a variety of contractual agreements. The Committee of Public Accounts concluded that the number of bodies involved in maintaining and improving stations has led to a fragmented approach, lacking overall leadership and strategic focus (paragraphs 8 to 11).

— The security requirements at stations set out in franchise agreements are limited to ensuring there is adequate lighting. In 2003, in its Modern Facilities at Stations programme the Strategic Rail Authority established specifications for staffed stations that went beyond those set out in franchise agreements but with adoption dependent on funding. The specifications are highest for medium and large staffed stations. Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and Help Points are not included in the specifications for small stations (paragraphs 12 to 16).

— National schemes promote good practice in station security, but few Train Operating Companies are involved and the schemes have had little impact (paragraphs 17 and 18).

MANY PASSENGERS DO NOT FEEL SAFE AT RAILWAY STATIONS

3. Our analysis of the Spring 2004 National Passenger Survey data on station facilities and services showed that passengers are most satisfied with the provision of passenger information, the assistance they receive from station staff, and connections with other forms of public transport. (The most recent National Passenger Survey, carried out in Autumn 2005, confirmed these findings). However, one of the areas where levels of satisfaction are lower is passengers' feelings of personal security while at stations. As with other areas, passenger satisfaction in this area varies greatly between categories of station (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1

PASSENGER SATISFACTION WITH PERSONAL SECURITY WHILST USING STATIONS

Per cent fairly or very satisfied (National Passenger Survey Spring 2004) All stations	National hub	Regional hub	Important feeder	Medium staffed	Small staffed	Small unstaffed
55	62	61	53	46	49	38

4. Train Operating Companies have made considerable investments in CCTV surveillance in recent years. A third of stations are now equipped with such systems. The results of the National Passenger Survey show that there has been some improvement in the number of passengers feeling safer (54% in autumn 2002, and 59% in autumn 2005). In the autumn 2005 National Passenger Survey, furthermore, 25% of passengers said that they had had cause to worry about their personal safety on the railway in the preceding six months. More than half of these cited anti-social behaviour by other passengers at stations, 43% a lack of station staff, 37% fear of terrorism and 18% poor station lighting as reasons for their concerns about personal safety.

5. The reliability of crime figures recorded by the British Transport Police depends on victims reporting offences to the police. The total number of notifiable offences recorded by the British Transport Police on the railways rose by 17% (to 65,051) between 2000-01 and 2003-04. This included a 37% increase in assaults on railway staff, and increases of 25% each in violent crimes and in public disorder and criminal damage. The Strategic Rail Authority pointed out that some of the increase can be attributed to the increase in the number of passengers using the network: passenger journeys increased by six% between 2000-01 and 2003-04. Some of this increase can also be attributed to a change in the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002, which resulted in more offences being recorded in official figures.

6. Research by Crime Concern[16] for the Department in 1996 and 2002 suggested that measures to improve personal safety would result in 11% more journeys by public transport, including 15% more by train and Underground. Much of the increase would occur outside peak hours. The research also found that the presence of staff, good lighting and CCTV surveillance at stations were the three most important factors reassuring passengers about their personal safety when they waited for a train. Passengers feel more secure at large stations, which are staffed, than at small stations unstaffed for much or all of the day, many of which do not have CCTV security systems. Passengers feel most unsafe after dark, particularly at unstaffed stations.

7. In the Rail Safety and Standards Board's 2003--04 safety plan, the industry set itself a target to reduce crime against passengers and others on railway property by 7.5% by December 2005. It expected to achieve this through, amongst other activities, improved lighting at stations, more CCTV systems and help points, and the further adoption of best practice accreditation schemes.

Roles and responsibilities at stations are set out in a variety of contractual agreements. The Committee of Public Accounts concluded that the number of bodies involved in maintaining and improving stations has led to a fragmented approach, lacking overall leadership and strategic focus.

8. Britain's 2,507 railway stations[17] vary greatly in size. Each of the 28 largest stations is used on average by 90,000 passengers a day, and each of the 1,200 small unstaffed stations by just 100 passengers. Seventy% of all rail journeys are made from the busiest 10% of stations. Network Rail owns most stations and is responsible for their structural repair and renewal. It also operates and manages 17 large stations, known as managed stations. It leases the remainder, known as franchised stations, to 22 Train Operating Companies responsible for station maintenance, cleaning and operations. These Train Operating Companies pay rent (including regulated charges) to Network Rail.

9. The Strategic Rail Authority has had a key role to play in stations, since the government established it in February 2001 to deliver strategic leadership to the railway industry. It inherited from its predecessor, the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, minimum standards, including facilities and services required at franchised stations, monitored Train Operating Companies' compliance with requirements and helped fund stations' operation and improvement. Other public and private sector organisations also play a part. The Strategic Rail Authority was abolished under the Railways Act 2005. In June 2005, the Department for Transport took over its strategic, franchising and station roles in England and Wales and in October 2005 the Scottish Executive took over these roles for Scotland. In April 2005, Network Rail took over its responsibility for monitoring Train Operating Companies' operational performance, while in July 2005 the Office of Rail Regulation took over its monitoring of some consumer protection issues. The Department for Transport, Train Operating Companies acting as Station Facility Owners, Network Rail and the British Transport Police share responsibility for improving security at stations, although primary responsibility rests with the Station Facility Owners.

10. A variety of contractual agreements set out Network Rail's and Train Operating Companies' respective roles and responsibilities, and there are various sources of funding for the maintenance, repair and renewal of stations, involving a complicated flow of taxpayer subsidies together with income from passenger fares and from commercial concessions such as shops and cafe[acute]s at stations. None of the organisations involved collected information about the total amount of public and private sector money spent on stations. We estimated that, in 2003-04, over £420 million was spent on day-to-day maintenance, cleaning and operations of stations, including £370 million by Train Operating Companies at franchised stations, and that Network Rail spent over £100 million renewing station assets including £65 million at franchised stations.

11. The Committee of Public Accounts concluded that the number of bodies involved in maintaining and improving stations has led to a fragmented approach, lacking overall leadership and strategic focus. The Committee recommended that the Department should identify investment priorities across the network, set out a coherent approach for attracting in private funding to help fund improvements, and set out clearly the actions needed to address anticipated capacity pressures, particularly at major stations, over the next 10 years.[18]

The security requirements at stations set out in franchise agreements are limited to ensuring there is adequate lighting. In its Modern Facilities at Stations programme, the Strategic Rail Authority established specifications that went beyond those of franchise agreements, but with adoption dependent on funding. The specifications are highest for medium and large staffed stations, with CCTV and Help points not included in the specifications for small stations.

12. There is no single, authoritative definition within the rail industry of what passengers want and need from stations, and what value they place on satisfying them. Research carried out for Railtrack in 1999, and more recently by Network Rail, suggested that passengers' core needs at a station were for the station to be secure and for staff and good quality information to be available.

13. The Strategic Rail Authority, and before it the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, set basic obligations for most franchised stations that largely reflected the facilities that existed at the time of privatisation rather than identified passenger needs. Train Operating Companies have generally complied with them, and Network Rail has reported an improvement in stations' structural condition since privatisation.

14. The security requirements set out in the original franchise agreements were limited to ensuring that there is adequate lighting, switched on throughout the hours of darkness when the station is open. The Strategic Rail Authority reviewed its franchising policy in 2002 and concluded that, while the policy of relying on commercial incentives to encourage Train Operating Companies to improve the quality of passenger rail and station services had achieved a number of successes, overall it had not delivered the outcomes envisaged. The Strategic Rail Authority decided that, from spring 2004, it would more clearly specify station standards, facilities and services in new franchise agreements, setting a higher level of requirements in some respects and new requirements where there had previously been none. The new franchise agreements set out more specific requirements for lighting at stations, but do not include any new security requirements.

15. During the awarding of, and any subsequent revisions to, franchises the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising and later the Strategic Rail Authority encouraged Train Operating Companies to commit themselves in their franchise plans to invest in station improvements. Some franchise plans specified the improved facilities and services that Train Operating Companies would provide at particular stations, while others quantified how much would be spent on them. The most common improvements involved installation of CCTV systems and better passenger information systems.

16. In June 2003, in its Modern Facilities at Stations (MFAS) programme, the Strategic Rail Authority established specifications for facilities at staffed stations. These went beyond those set out in franchise agreements, but the specifications were lower for small stations and their adoption has been dependent on available funding. CCTV and Help points were included in the specifications for medium and larger staffed stations but not for small staffed (and unstaffed) stations. In drawing up its specification over the period 2001 to 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority consulted Train Operating Companies, Passenger Transport Executives, the Office of Rail Regulation, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales. But there was limited consultation with passengers and representative rail passenger groups. By March 2005, the SRA had funded Network Rail to complete MFAS improvements at 67 stations. Network Rail had completed designs to upgrade facilities at a further 662 stations, but the SRA did not have funding to proceed with these improvements.

National schemes promote good practice in station security, but few Train Operating Companies are involved and the schemes have had little impact

17. The Department for Transport, the Home Office and the police work with other stakeholders in running two accreditation schemes for station and car park security. Take-up remains low, however, and both schemes have had limited impact:

THE SECURE STATIONS SCHEME

— Since 2002, the Strategic Rail Authority has been committed to encouraging Train Operating Companies to seek accreditation under the Secure Stations scheme, which specifies high standards for crime management. An independent review of the scheme in April 2003 found that one of the main weaknesses of the scheme was lack of support from some Train Operating Companies. The cost of the required regular passenger surveys was also a major deterrent to some Train Operating Companies joining the scheme. The review found that many of the stations had low levels of crime before accreditation, which was therefore achieved without requiring any significant changes; subsequently crime fell only a little from previous levels. The review also found that there was a low level of awareness of the scheme among passengers, and that it had therefore had a limited impact on passengers' fear of crime. The review's recommendations included targeting the scheme at stations with high levels of crime to improve the scheme's effectiveness, and better marketing and promotion of the scheme.

— In response, the Department has reduced the costs of the scheme by allowing Train Operating Companies to draw upon station-specific results from crime questions in the National Passenger Survey and, in March 2005, by abolishing the accreditation fee and introducing a category of `working towards accreditation', to encourage take-up of the scheme. As at January 2005, there were 118 accredited stations, a fall of 12% from the 134 accredited stations in October 2002. Since 87 of the largest stations are accredited, however, two-thirds of rail journeys involve passengers starting or finishing their journey at a Secure Station.

— The Department has recently begun research on approaches to reducing crime at stations in high crime locations and the British Transport Police has deployed Police Community Support Officers along with police co-ordinators at the main London terminal stations, Leeds, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central, which have the highest numbers of crimes. At London Victoria, crime fell by a quarter in the first six weeks of these Officers' deployment.

THE SECURED CAR PARK SCHEME

Reducing Vehicle Crime

18. The Committee of Public Accounts noted that few train operating companies have joined national schemes to reduce crime and improve personal safety at stations even though research in 1996 and 2002 suggests that introducing additional security measures can increase patronage by up to 11%. The Committee recommended that the Department should work with the Association of Train Operating Companies and British Transport Police to promote national schemes with station operators and passengers and that it should also consider making participation a franchise requirement.[20]

31 March 2006