Customer Information Pledges

We know your journey doesn’t start at a railway station – it starts when you fancy a day out with friends or family, need to get to work, or arrange a business meeting.

Sometimes, Network Rail needs to carry out improvement works which keep our network safe and makes it more reliable, or we might need to change the published timetable for other operational reasons. We work with Network Rail to agree and confirm any special timetable to cover this.

On the SWR website you can plan your journey, check how busy your train might be, and stay in control by signing up to receive personalised, travel updates  delivered via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or SMS text messages straight to your device.

To help you plan your journey, working with rail industry partners and retailers, we will:

• Publish the changes in our journey planners as soon as possible – we aim to do this no later than 12 weeks in advance for planned works
• Publish changes in journey planners as soon as we can, but at least 8 weeks in advance
• Tell you in our journey planners if we haven’t yet confirmed the final timetable for a particular time period and a default timetable is still being shown
• Widely communicate details of upcoming changes to train times, so you know to recheck before you travel
• Provide a list of dates that are currently available for booking our Advance tickets on our website, so you don’t need to worry that you’ll miss out on any cheaper tickets that might become available
• Let you know when planning your journey if, for any part of your journey, you need to travel on a mode of transport where you would normally expect it to be a train
• Run trains and road transport that is accessible for everyone and, if this isn’t possible, tell you and offer to arrange an alternative if you get in touch with us
• Ensure rail replacement buses display their destination and depart from an identified departure point which is clearly shown
• Share information about the facilities that are available at the stations you will be using and highlight where there are any issues

Our Team

Our teams work hard to help you, whether at the station or on board one of our trains. We care about you and your journey. We care when things go wrong.

Nobody likes it when things don’t go to plan, but from time to time it is inevitable. We simply ask that you allow us the opportunity to put things right and treat our people with respect.

Our team members will:

• Be happy to help and visible so you know where to find them; just look out for the blue or pink hi-vis jackets
• Be contactable to listen and act on your feedback from our centres at Southampton and Basingstoke here
• Know what they need to do to resolve or report a problem
• Know what to do to help you when you travel with us
• Have access to a mobile device, so they can help you plan your journey when things go wrong

There is always someone to help if you have a problem, even if you are at an unstaffed station, you can reach us via the station help point, Twitter, Live Chat or by phone. More details can be found here.

At our stations, we will:

• Let you know which platform your train departs from, informing you of any change as soon as we know
• Keep you up to date on the status of your train
• Keep announcements to a minimum so you don’t miss the important bits
• Ensure you are kept up to date on where to sit in the train if there is a short platform or your train splits

On our trains, we will:

• Let you know as soon as we are aware if your train is likely to be disrupted
• Let you know which stations we will be calling at, ensuring you are aware of the next stop, so you can have time to gather your belongings
• Let you know the final destination on the side of the train and on the passenger information screens on board
• Make announcements on the status of your train if it stops unexpectedly or if there is any change to departure time or the planned calling stations
• Let you know of disruption on other train routes and modes of transport, such as buses and trams that you connect with, if we are made aware

As soon as we are aware of a problem affecting your journey, we will:

• Update all our digital information channels at our stations and on our trains, our app, and website with cancellations, delays, or any changes to the calling pattern for your train
• Provide a reason for the change if the delay is more than ten minutes
• Give you our best estimate for how long the disruption will last
• Ensure teams at our stations can provide relevant local information
• Keep you updated with information from the incident scene and our Control Room, so you know what is being done to put things right
• Work with rail industry partners to ensure messages are consistent across all channels, so you don’t receive conflicting information
• Help you to re-plan your journey using our journey planner, by viewing the live departure boards, or by speaking to our team, so you can understand how the disruption will affect your journey
• Engage with industry partners to ensure you can’t buy a ticket for a train that has been cancelled
• Remind you of your right to claim compensation through our delay repay policy
• Have contingency plans that are reviewed regularly to deal with disruption

We will clearly explain things to you, by:

• Posting a message on our website homepage and app as well as on the National Rail website to include:

• What the problem is
• How it might impact your journey
• Our advice and options for you to consider

• Providing you with access to personalised journey alerts through our live times and updates tool.
• Keeping you informed on how dealing with the incident is progressing and making sure we provide you with information on:

• What we are doing to Investigate the problem
• Any ongoing work to fix the problem
• Whether the problem is resolved
• When we expect everything will back to normal

• Ensuring our information is jargon free, clear, and easy to understand.
• Providing a consistent message on our website, app, and live times and updates tool.
• Highlighting when we don’t know the answer

Our teams will take care of you by:

• Ensuring that if the last train of the day is cancelled, we do not leave you stranded
• Providing you with information, so you can plan what to do next
• Highlighting any alternatives or being clear if your journey is not possible right now
• Using emergency replacement transport where we can
• Helping you with directions if you are unfamiliar with the route
• Making it clear that, if we ask you to travel on an alternative route or train, that it will not be at an additional cost to yourself
• Highlighting if you have to travel from an alternative route on the outbound part of your journey, that you can return the same way at no extra cost, even if there is no disruption on the return
• Making it clear how you can get in touch and provide feedback to help us improve in the future

We think it’s important that you know what tools are available to help you. There are some things we encourage you to do:

• Check before you travel to make sure nothing has changed
• Use the SWR or National Rail Enquiries website or app to manage your travel plans
• Ask for help, whether that is before you travel, on the day or after you travel
• Sign up to our notification service live times and updates
• Check ticket availability pages, so you know when advance tickets go on sale
• Be aware that not all stations are accessible and plan ahead to make your journey as easy as possible
• Know where you go to find information on a major incident on our website or app
• Remember it can take us time to get alternatives arranged and be patient and courteous to our teams whilst we try to get arrangements in place
• Be aware of compensation arrangements and remember to make a claim