No criticism is intended of any railway staff. But I think that the railway is possibly suffering a bit of public backlash because sections of "big business" have long tried to obscure their own incompetence by using vague generalised excuses, and the public have become weary of such treatment.
That's a very good point. Using such vague descriptors is definitely not helping with confidence in the industry at the moment. I feel there is a need for the industry to spend some real effort learning how to be more open and informative using the most appropriate language without letting off too much unnecessary detail about an incident. It is also not just about what you say, but doing it consistently and making information available as soon as is practicable (which applies equally to internal communication such as Tyrell).
People appreciate some context of the situation they find themselves in so a little detail goes a long way (even if sometimes such detail provide no additional useful information to an industry outsider, eg. "a fault with the doors" as opposed to "a train fault", not necessarily technical jargon). It can be as simple as one or two sentences. It projects the image of a company being frank, and leaves a much better impression. In some cases it may not be possible to do so, but if the industry can start doing this where possible then I am sure most of the customers would not mind the small number of occasions when no further details can be provided, if informed as such.
Some TOCs are better at it than others, but we need the whole industry to start doing the same.
In this case, all the passenger really needs to know is a best estimate of when his/her train will arrive - and preferably what alternative arrangements might need to be made.
Absolutely. Customers do not always need to know much about the incident, but they always appreciate some pointers in how long a delay they should prepare themselves for.
These should actively be provided, even if just the best estimate at the time, and updated as things progress at regular intervals, or when new developments come to light. If this is not possible, it is always best to be honest and say that, than be silent on the matter.
Ultimately you can't please everyone. There will always be those who want to know just that bit more than what is provided in the public domain and the line has to be drawn somewhere. The industry will not be able to get it right every time, but if we can get it right for most people consistently then that should in time improve passenger satisfaction in that particular area.
I do know what CCIL is really. And I would look if I could but I can't.
It's Network Rail's incident database. I don't know where you got your information from so I assumed you had some sort of access.
