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The Office of Rail and Road is asking for views on a new annual assessment, to be launched in 2025, that will rate the performance of how train companies provide assistance to disabled passengers.

ORR said the new assessment of train operators’ and Network Rail’s performance in delivering passenger assistance will strengthen the regulator’s ability to hold operators to account for poor performance.

It will also highlight good practice to share across the industry, and drive improvements in the provision of the service for passengers. Feedback from passengers, including what ORR gets from its regular passenger surveys, has highlighted that assistance needs to be delivered more reliably.

ORR has proposed that operators be assessed on two core areas: their actual delivery of assistance and their capability to improve. They will be measured across several factors, against three levels of performance - Upper, Middle and Lower – with a potential further assessment of whether an operator’s performance is improving or worsening.

More detail of the proposals are in the consultation document. They were developed through a process of informal engagement with disabled people’s organisations, industry bodies and other regulators.

The consultation will close at 17:00 on Friday 14 February 2025. Responses can be sent by online form, by email to ATP@orr.gov.uk, or by post to: Assistance Benchmarking Consultation, Office of Rail and Road, 25 Cabot Square, London, E14 4QZ.

https://www.orr.gov.uk/search-consultations/benchmarking-operators-performance-rail-passenger-assistance