MERSEYRAIL and LNER have emerged at the top of a scorecard ranking train operators for their provision of services and facilities for people travelling with babies and young children.
Avanti West Coast, Northern and ScotRail also score well in the second survey by the Campaign for Family-Friendly Trains.
“In nine out of ten categories, at least one train operating company has obtained a top score,” campaign spokeswoman Alice Delemare Tangpuori told RAIL.
“It shows that there is not a problem of a lack of ideas or technology - it’s about a lack of implementation or determination. The point of this survey is to show which companies are leading and which are laggards.
“Merseyrail is rolling out brand new trains. We spoke quite extensively to them. It has tackled two of the biggest challenges: dedicated space for unfolded buggies, and level boarding from platform to train. It has been careful to get community input in the specification of its new trains, doing research on what is needed. The result is there to see on our scorecard.
“LNER has signed our family-friendly pledge, which is never to order a new train or undertake a refurbishment without providing dedicated space for unfolded buggies.”
The campaign points out that trains are primarily designed for business and commuter passengers, not for families. Since the pandemic, leisure travel has become more important, but the trains have not yet changed. It suggests this exacerbates social exclusion.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 2.1 million children under three years old in the UK.
“We know that leisure travel is becoming the biggest revenue earner for the railway. I just don’t think train operating companies can afford to overlook the needs of people with young children,” said Delemare Tangpuori.
“We hope this will give train companies insights into their passengers. We hope it will lead to them wanting conversations with us. We are engaging with a number of operators -CrossCountry and Transport for Wales don’t necessarily have the best scores, but they are keen to work with us.”
Southeastern is the only company that said Passenger Assist is available for (and advertised to) families travelling with young children. The campaign believes this should be a consistent bookable service across the network.
As a metro system, Merseyrail has no passenger reservation system. The new fleet has no signage on the outside of the trains indicating where family-friendly spaces are located. But the survey awarded the operator a high score, as it said the whole train is designed to be pushchair-friendly and the areas are signed clearly inside the carriages and easily reached by any door.
The report concludes: “While we recognise that
