Associate Feature: We must all become advocates for Scotland’s railway

Our vision at LNER is to be the most loved, progressive and responsible way to travel, for generations to come. To achieve that vision means focusing completely on the customer. We care passionately about everyone, from those who regularly travel with us, to those who step onboard for the first time. 

There’s also another type of customer who we care about - those who have never travelled with us before. 

This may seem like an odd thing to say. How can someone who has never travelled with us be considered a customer? My simple answer is that they have to be. If we are to recover from the pandemic, revitalise our economy, and achieve a modal shift that means we can meet our net zero ambitions, we need to attract customers who have never travelled by rail before. That is the challenge we have set ourselves at LNER. 

We believe we get there by showing, time and time again, world class customer service, from the moment a ticket is booked to when you leave the station. Throughout the pandemic, we implemented enhanced cleaning, introduced Seat Sure to give customers confidence they’ll have the comfort of a seat for the duration of their journey, and introduced ‘Let’s Eat at Your Seat’ food and drink ordering in Standard, providing a greater digital experience as well as launching a new delicious catering offer. All of which has helped encourage people to get out of their cars and onto our world class Azuma trains.   

Perceptions, however, are sometimes enough to stop people travelling by rail for long distance travel, so with that in mind, we commissioned research to learn more about these perceptions. The research asked 2,000 respondents to imagine they were travelling alone, in four weeks, with luggage and between city centres, meaning they would need to use connecting transport for a flight.

The results were revealing. The price of rail fares and journey times by train were considerably overestimated, whereas rail’s reliability and environmental benefits were considerably underestimated. A fifth thought rail was the most expensive and the slowest mode of transport, and a third thought it would be the least reliable. 

The perception quite simply does not match the reality. Independent analysis by Steer found that rail is the most affordable and most reliable mode of transport - and gets passengers to their destination within an hour of a plane, city centre to centre. 

The environmental credentials of rail also far exceed that of aviation and cars. An LNER Azuma emits 4kg of carbon per passenger between Edinburgh and London, whereas a plane emits 132kg of carbon and a car emits 114kg. However, 90 per cent of those surveyed did not know just how much better rail was for the environment. 

The challenge for rail operators, policy makers and those who want rail to succeed is evident - tackle the misconceptions and keep providing customers with an exceptional experience. By promoting the reality of rail travel and making the customer experience even better, we will encourage more people to think and choose rail. 

It’s an approach that seems to be working. LNER is now 20 percentage points ahead of the next long-distance operator in terms of our recovery, with over 90 per cent of our pre-pandemic passengers back, and there were many times last year that we exceeded our pre-pandemic customer numbers. 

For this combination to be truly successful it will take everyone, both inside and outside the industry, to become advocates for our railways. We must promote rail and correct the perception that has managed to embed itself in the public conscience. Ultimately, to achieve the net-zero targets we all want to deliver, we must correct the record, and make more people think and choose rail.  
 

This article is sponsored by LNER.