For those of you who started the week standing on a train platform on your way to work – yes, there are still many millions of Britons who do this – I could guarantee that among the frustrations, aggravations and privations you might have endured, being called “a passenger” by the station announcer was not one of them.
You may have wondered whether your train was going to be on time, or indeed arrive at all, or whether you would get a seat for your £5,000-a-year season ticket, but the precise nomenclature for addressing those who travel by train? I very much doubt it will have registered as a concern.
I ask this question because Network Rail, the Government-funded body which owns and maintains the railway infrastructure in the United Kingdom, has gone to the trouble and expense of producing a 134-page booklet to help staff address the public in a more “inclusive and accessible” way, and this includes the advice that, instead of “passengers”, customers should be addressed as “you” because this “does not assume a gender”.
It’s hard to know where to start unpicking this, given that no gender is assumed by the word passenger, but perhaps the title of this handbook gives some clue as to the risible nature of the exercise. It’s called “Speak Passenger”. And it’s subtitle is not: “But don’t call them passengers!”
For all that, Network Rail may be on to something. A “passenger” is someone who has the expectation of being conveyed by a means of transport from A to B in a punctual manner. So perhaps it’s not a strictly appropriate term to describe those who use Britain’s railway network.
“To put passengers first, we have to speak their language,” says Andrew Haines, the chief executive of Network Rail. “Whoever we’re talking to, whatever the situation.”
I admire his optimistic spirit, but I wouldn’t advise that he uses the language I hear at Euston Station at the weekends when train after train is cancelled.
Thanks Avanti - your delays mean I never pay for trains anymore
Read MoreIn answer to criticism from Lord Goddard of Stockport about the service from London to Manchester, this is what a spokesperson for Avanti West Coast, which operates the line, said: “Across November and December, we were responsible for 21.7 percent of delays. Further delays were due to infrastructure failures which is why we continue to work in close partnership with Network Rail to address the infrastructure challenges on our network to make sure our customers get the service they deserve.”
Of course, language does matter. Which is why the above bit of corporate nonsense is so infuriating. What is Avanti saying? Are they saying it’s Network Rail’s fault? And are the hundreds of people who stand in motionless misery watching the static departure board at Euston getting the “service they deserve”? If so, what have they done to deserve it?
So any initiative to treat customers, or passengers, or even “you”, like real people, who have paid real money, and have real journeys to make, should be welcomed. I just don’t think it will achieve Network Rail’s ambition to make their customers (let’s agree to call them that) feel like they are getting a better service.
According to figures from the Office of Rail and Road, 370,000 train services were cancelled or partially cancelled in 2024, which is the equivalent of one every 90 seconds. For a modern European country, this is a shocking statistic, and while the Network Rail guidelines suggest staff “put themselves in passengers’ shoes” by giving them bad news in plain language, this is clearly not going to assuage anyone’s frustration.
In fact, if we think we are being humoured – “We’re so sorry, you’ve had a long day, it’s cold and miserable, and now a tree’s fallen on the line and your train’s been cancelled. What a bummer” – it might make things worse.
It is a simple conundrum to answer, and in language everyone can understand. Just make the bloody trains run on time!
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