Why is it that the rail networks can’t seem to handle a few leaves or a bit of water. Yes a years worth of rain did fall in one day and it’s perfectly reasonable that trains aren’t amphibious in nature and will have to stop. However, what’s not okay is leaving thousands of bewildered customers woefully uninformed when all they want to do is get home.
Picture the scene if you will: East Croydon on a Friday evening jam packed with passengers not going anywhere and completely unaware of their predicament. The station staff, conductors and station managers are also suffering from ignorance of what’s going on. This is a real recipe for disaster and was probably seen as such by the thousands of customers who attempted to get home that evening. A situation like this isn’t good for business or for reputation.
There is an obvious flaw in the way these crises are prepared for and the actions that go in to place when crises occur. The main problem is the complete lack of communication between the rail companies and passengers. Indeed, it seems the old tannoy is just not enough, especially when it is tied up announcing trains to far flung and useless places. The on-platform ticker screens may look impressive but as the flood waters rose they either had either been forgotten about or simply aren’t equipped for anything other than train times.
If the latter case is true then train operators need to have a good look at their IT infrastructure especially in the way that it works during crises. Perhaps this needs investment but wasn’t that the point of privatising the network? Currently systems are leaving people largely in the dark despite the efforts of embattled employees.
A lack of information only breeds misinformation, leading to angry customers, a bad reputation and, as a small green man once said, this all leads to the dark side.
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