Rail passenger assistance ranked for first time by ORR, as regulator investigates Northern Trains’ disability awareness training

The Office of Rail and Road has today published its first annual benchmarking report on train and station operators' delivery of passenger assistance. The findings highlight that while passengers are generally satisfied with the standard of assistance when it is delivered, delivery itself can be unreliable with 11% of passengers reporting that they received none of the assistance they booked in 2024/25. 

ORR assessed 14 train operators plus Network Rail for their reliability of assistance delivery and for passenger satisfaction from 2022 to 2025. Southeastern, LNER and Network Rail delivered the highest reliability, closely followed by Avanti West Coast. Two operators who underperformed on key criteria (South Western Railway and West Midlands Trains) were also assessed separately on their capability to improve and asked to provide action plans.   

The table below ranks each operator's performance in delivering assistance over the past three years.  

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Operators are ranked by reliability (derived from the proportion receiving none of the assistance booked). A colour spectrum of yellow to red has been applied to these numbers, with the lowest number (8%) in yellow and highest number (16%) in red. Both satisfaction metrics (with assistance received at station, and with staff knowledge and proficiency at station) have a green to yellow colour spectrum applied, with the highest numbers (96%) in green and lowest (90%) in yellow. The overall delivery score applied to each station operator has a dark blue to light blue colour spectrum applied, with the lowest score (88) in dark blue and highest score (94) in light blue.

ORR action on poorest performing operators: 

• Both SWR and WMT showed a pattern of sustained poor performance in delivering reliable passenger assistance, leading ORR to conduct full ‘capability to improve' assessments. As a result of ORR's in-depth assessments, both SWR and WMT have been asked to submit detailed action plans based on the review and ORR's recommendations. Additionally, WMT has been asked to commission an independent review of its passenger assistance delivery. SWR is required to comply by 31 January 2026 and WMT by 31 March 2026  

• Northern Trains recorded the lowest reliability score in the benchmarking assessment, and during 2025 it implemented an improvement plan in response to concerns raised by ORR in 2024.  In August 2025, in response to ORR's new approach to monitoring training delivery, Northern reported that around 800 passenger-facing staff had not completed disability awareness training.  ORR has now opened a formal licence investigation to establish: i) how long Northern passenger-facing staff who had not received required training were interacting with disabled passengers; ii) the circumstances that led to this; iii) how Northern can provide assurance that its recent training has been effective and iv) ensure a similar situation will not arise in future. 

From 2026, ORR plans to expand the benchmarking framework to include new data sources and measures - such as post-assistance passenger confidence, staff training compliance, Turn Up and Go reliability, and Passenger Assistance app feedback.  

Stephanie Tobyn, ORR's director of policy, strategy and reform, said:  

“Passenger assistance is essential for many older and disabled people. When it works well, it gives freedom and confidence. But as our reporting shows, there are too many instances where the service has not been delivered as promised, which can have serious consequences for the passenger.   

“We are seeing demand for assistance grow. It's essential that operators meet passenger needs and we've taken action on the poorest performing operators to ensure that the reliability and consistency of service for their passengers improves.” 

Contact Information

Saj Chowdhury
saj.chowdhury@orr.gov.uk

Notes to editors

1. Passenger Assist benchmarking report 2024-25
2. Letter to Northern
3. The benchmarking framework focuses on two areas:
4. Delivery performance – how reliably assistance is provided, alongside passenger satisfaction and staff knowledge. ‘Assistance' includes help with boarding, alighting and navigating stations, and is a core requirement under operators' [Accessible Travel Policies and] licence obligations.
5. Capability to Improve – a qualitative assessment of organisational capacity to strengthen delivery, targeted at operators with sustained poor performance.
6. The ‘delivery' assessment is based on data collected through our Experiences of Passenger Assist survey between April 2022 and March 2025 - 26,306 responses were analysed. ORR gave greater emphasis to the most recent year (weighted 1:2:3). An overall delivery score was then calculated using the following weightings: 50% for reliability, 25% for satisfaction, and 25% for staff knowledge and proficiency. As the scores for the latter two metrics placed all operators in a narrow performance band, for 2025 it was decided to rank operators based on reliability as the key metric for delivery. The 14 train operators assessed, and Network Rail, met the threshold of at least 50 survey responses per year.
7. Transport for Wales, like WMT, managed a score of 14% for reliability (i.e. the proportion receiving none of the assistance booked) but responded well to the concerns raised by ORR when challenged earlier this year.
8. All train and station operators must establish and comply with an Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) as a condition of their licence, setting out their provision for disabled people. Operators must secure ORR approval for their ATP, and we have issued guidance that defines minimum requirements, covering areas such as provision of assistance, staff training and passenger information. Passengers may either book assistance in advance (up to two hours ahead of the journey) or ‘turn-up-and-go' (TUAG).