Regulator publishes National Rail Enquiry Scheme figures

6 August 1999
ORR/99/31

Figures released today for the performance standards achieved by the National Rail Enquiry Scheme (NRES) during the period 27 June 1999 to 24 July 1999 show that for the third consecutive month the Scheme has just managed to meet the target set by the Regulator of answering 90% of all calls made to the service. The figure for the July period was 90.6 per cent.

Announcing these figures Tom Winsor, the Rail Regulator, said: "I have undertaken to publish these figures every month to allow the travelling public to judge the Scheme's performance. Again NRES is just managing to keep its performance above the legal minimum.

"I am looking for a sustained effort, along with appropriate resourcing, enabling the Scheme to cope with increasing numbers of calls, while raising the response rate significantly," he said.

In the period from 27 June 1999 to 24 July 1999 NRES received 5,193,420 calls, of which 4,706,584 were answered, representing 90.6 per cent.

Notes for editors:

1. NRES is currently the subject of an enforcement order, imposed by the Rail Regulator on 4 December 1998, for failing to meet their performance target of answering more than 90% of telephone enquiries made to the service.

2. Under this order, operators face a penalty of £500,000 for any shortfall down to 85% of telephone calls answered, and a second penalty of £500,000 for any further shortfall below that percentage figure. However, no penalty will be payable if more than 4.6M calls are answered in a month.

3. This year's actual performance figures (i.e. including calls abandoned within 30 seconds) are as follows: January 96.05%, February 92.63%, March 91.00%, April 92.88%, May 90.15%, June 90.5%, July 90.6%.

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