Rail Franchise performance meeting minutes - 17 September 2015
Transport Scotland attendees: Andrew Mackie (AM), Donald Smith (DS), Calum Campbell (CC), Arlene Wilson (AW)
ScotRail attendees: Peter O'Connell (PO), Rob Shorthouse (RS)
ScotRail apologies: John McLachlan (JM), Ian McConnell (IM), James Ledgerwood (JL)
1) Minutes of previous meeting
Crowding - ScotRail are involved in various discussions regarding initiatives and issues relating to overcrowding. Jacqui Taggart is leading an internal session with across directorates on 30/09. Following this, a meeting will be arranged with TS based on previous request.
AM advised that this is a key issue for Transport Scotland, RS gave an assurance that Phil Verster has made this a top priority.
National Events Calendar - AM informed that the latest version of the National Events Calendar was still outstanding as the contract states that ScotRail are to provide an updated version every three months. AP – RS
CET Variation - RS had spoken to Sam Price regarding the outstanding CET variation. RS offered that Angus Thom will meet with TS officials to brief current progress on fitment of the c156 fleet. SR to organise. AP – RS
Monitoring of ATG queue times – This is closed until Transport Scotland analyse the information provided by ScotRail. AP – AM
Organisation Charts – ScotRail are to provide a chart of their key personnel, giving clarity on reporting lines and such. PO informed that areas of the structure would change on December 14th but ensured that ScotRail would provide an update version in the meantime. AP – SR
SLC – Closed
Equipment Reliability – Closed
DS suggested that it would be useful if ScotRail could carry out post evaluation work on this to evaluate the effectiveness of the buy before boarding campaign.
RS will speak to Phil Campbell and make sure he gets back to DS. AP – RS
Eye witness incident reports – ongoing.
C321’s – ongoing.
Staff Uniform – New project manager has started at ScotRail that will co-ordinate issuing of staff uniforms by end of calendar year.
2) Service delivery performance (Schedule 7.1)
Period 5 Performance – AM requested feedback on lessons learned exercises looking forward to 2016 i.e. Overcrowding during the Edinburgh Fringe. RS advised that they are working hard to make passengers aware when they are expecting a high demand alongside operational plans to provide further capacity, notably on last trains leaving Edinburgh.
RS will keep Transport Scotland posted on the work that ScotRail are doing on this. AP - RS
On-Time Railway Groups – Transport Scotland are encouraged by the focus being applied to specific service groups to improve punctuality and reliability and would be interested to see any reports that would increase their information on said groups. AP – SR
4) Service quality performance (Schedule 7.3)
Period 5 has witnessed an increase from Period 4.
Trip hazards work has went well and RS declared that ScotRail have been positive on the outcomes of the meetings between themselves and TS SQUIRE.
RS ensured that he would get back to Transport Scotland on the reasons for this SQUIRE increase and emphasised that there is a strong focus from the top on finding areas of improvement. AP – RS
5) Financial obligations and undertakings (Schedule 12)
Access for All fund - Priced Option 5 call off number has been created.
The Draft Variation for Borders has been received by Sam Price and he will aim to get back to AM within the coming week. AP – SR
CET variation. This will tie in to Angus Thom meeting with Transport Scotland.
Revenue Protection KPI detail should be within the report. AP – SR
6) Provision of Schedule 13 information
Providing right time information at key intermediate stations – RS will ask performance team if action had been taken to publish right time at stations every four weeks in regards to COPA 13.4. Action will be taken by ScotRail to define the stations that this information should be published at. AM informed that Transport Scotland will begin to look for these displays from period 8. AP – RS
Delay Repay messaging during disruption continues with ScotRail confident that the message is being increasingly picked up by affected passengers.
7) Summary of all Committed Obligations delivered to date
Client & Communications:
There are no risks under this category. ScotRail informed that the first stakeholder advisory panel is on 22nd September and that Transport Scotland are welcome to attend.
AM requested the date for the International Rail Summit meeting. RS explained that he would update AM following a meeting. AP – RS
Commercial:
CO 27.1 (Tourism Ambassadors) – date needs changed to 01/12/2017.
AM raised the topic of season ticket holder benefits being promoted on the website, and requested feedback on uptake since the Franchise commencement date.
AP – PO
CO 32.6 (Nexus Alpha live disruption tool on website and mobile app) – This is moving forward and is almost ready.
CO 28.10 (ScotRail Club 50 smartcard product) – This product has attracted a very positive uptake nationally although it had caused challenges from a SMART perspective. NESTA and ScotRail are looking into a solution for this and ScotRail will provide an update when available. AP – SR
CO 17.7 (Colour coded timetables) – ScotRail reported that this is a priority to the team handling overcrowding issues.
Customer Experience:
CO 34.5 (First time traveller assistance programme. x25 employees and £25k per year) – ScotRail inform that following internal debate, it has been agreed that the Customer Experience team will design the specification for this and that the Learning & Development team will then train and deliver this.
Finance & Procurement:
CO 17.6 (Smart devices or at least 3,500 franchise employees) – This is on-track.
Human Resources:
CO 3.3 (Trade Union/TS attendance at every Franchise Board meeting) – This appears to be happening at the next board meeting, although, still awaiting final confirmation. ASR to confirm dates AP - SR
CO 24.14 (Schools programme to promote employment opportunties (4 schools p/m)) – ScotRail notified that they are exploring more effective ways to resource this efficiently.
Sustainability & Safety:
CO 34.7 (New homes marketing initiative) – This was originally tied into the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme that ceased to exist. JL had a meeting about how to deliver this with Homes to Buy. ScotRail will update Transport Scotland. AP – SR
Programmes & Transformation:
CO 22.2 (Install new TVMs x 126 (100 replacements and 26 new) – The programme for this has been finalised.
CO 30.11 (Upgraded pay and display machines) – A survey is currently on-going that will establish if the existing machines can be updated. ScotRail will update Transport Scotland following the survey. AP – SR
CO 30.13 (Cycle spaces) – ScotRail have issued a programme for 3,500 spaces. This has been delivered so far and is now simply a rolling programme.
CO 15.3 (ToGo Kiosks) & CO 14.4 (Ticket Plus) – RS stated that there has been a lot of work on finalising the method to take these forward.
CO 29.3 (Web-TIS development and ITSO fares fulfilment) – Mobile TIS product procurement is a group process and there was budget problems in Greater Anglia but these have now been resolved. RS informs that a formal letter of instruction is going out this week. RS then stated that the rollout of new handheld ticket machines enabled for SMART would make them the first TOC in the world to do this.
9) Progress of Priced Options 2 (Stranraer) and 4 (Dunbar station)
Priced Option 2 (Stranraer) has been called off. RS informed that he is to have a further conversation with Jerry Farquharson on. AP – RS
10) Communications
RS is comfortable with how these are going and the team has been set challenging KPI’s and they will run an internal campaign to remind ScotRail colleagues of events that are upcoming. Nick Wade from Transport Scotland is now fully involved in the ScotRail communications process.
11) AOB