Train operator ‘one’ railway is set to raise standards in all aspects of its train service in 2007 with the recruitment of over 120 staff in a wide range of roles across the business, including ticket office, platform, cleaning, revenue protection, driving, customer service centre and on-train roles.

The company aims to improve the quality and consistency of service across its network over the next 12 months, so that passengers feel a noticeable difference in their travel experience, building on recent improvements in punctuality (with around 87% of trains arriving on time) and upgrades for many trains and stations during 2006.

To further improve punctuality and performance an additional 24 drivers will be introduced on the Metro and West Anglia routes, which have the greatest density of service and are the busiest lines on the ‘one’ network.

To provide greater assistance for passengers, improve security, reduce fare evasion and “ticket-less travel” and provide better revenue collection, 60 extra revenue protection inspectors will be employed – 30 from January and another 30 from June.

At ticket offices a further 10 vacancies will be filled to give a better service to passengers and reduce or eliminate queuing.

To raise cleaning standards a further 13 cleaners will be employed, helping to preserve, maintain and improve the condition of the carriages.

At London Liverpool Street the number of platform staff will be increased by 9 to offer extra customer assistance and information, whilst at the Customer Service Centre in Norwich, 8 new employees will help improve the speed and quality of response for both advance ticket bookings by phone and customer correspondence/complaints.

On the Norwich to London mainline intercity services extra at-seat catering in both First Class and standard accommodation will be launched from 2 January with an additional 9 on-board stewards and stewardesses.

This major investment in improved service standards is part of the company’s commitment to delivering a high quality and improving service for all its passengers, across every aspect of passengers’ interface with the region’s principal train operator.

2007 will also see the continuation of the major refurbishment programme for the 61 Class 315 trains which provide the Metro and inner suburban West Anglia services and the 27 Class 317 trains currently being upgraded.

Commenting on the service quality and recruitment initiatives for 2007, Dominic Booth, Managing Director for ‘one’ railway said : “’one’ is committed to delivering a high quality and continually improving service for our passengers across East Anglia. This investment in over 120 additional employees across the ‘one’ network, in all aspects of service delivery experienced by our customers, illustrates our clear focus on making train travel a more convenient, comfortable and enjoyable experience. By directly addressing those areas which we know have the greatest impact on travellers’ journeys and which customers highlight as important to them in their feedback through research and correspondence, we hope passengers will see a visible improvement in service standards. The introduction of these new recruits should help improve reliability, enhance customer assistance and information provision, raise cleaning standards, make ticket purchase quicker and simpler, deliver faster, higher quality responses to correspondence and complaints, offer better on-train catering and provide greater security for passengers on their journeys. These initiatives, combined with plans for further improvements to punctuality and more upgrades for stations and trains (building on progress from 2006), should make a positive and tangible difference to the train service we provide over the next 12 months. We hope passengers will see the benefits and we will continue to listen to and act on their feedback to offer the best possible service.”