Northern responds to ORR letter regarding Passenger Assistance service

Williams said: “We are committed to improving the experience of passengers who require additional assistance with their journey and we will be working closely with the ORR on our improvement plan.

“We apologise to all our customers who have not had the necessary assistance that they needed.

“We help tens of thousands of passengers across the North of England every year and this has sharply increased in the last few years across our network of over 450 stations.

“Our focus now is to work on a detailed plan for improvement. We will involve people with lived experience of disability through our Northern Accessibility User Group (NAUG), as well as staff, in our plans.”

Additional information:

• Northern has seen a significant increase in requests for assistance since the pandemic with more than 100,000 assists delivered last year
• Northern manages more than 460 stations across the North of England. Portable ramps are available at those staffed stations and on-board all trains to facilitate boarding.
• Northern had the highest satisfaction rate compared to other train operators when assistance was delivered at 96% (up 3% on 2022/23).