Complaints up on West Coast Main Line

PASSENGER complaints have soared on the rail line running through North Staffordshire, where problems have persisted despite a £9 billion upgrade, it has been revealed.

West Coast Main Line operator Virgin Trains received 52.1 per cent more complaints in the 12 months ending March 2009 than in the previous 12 months, figures from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) showed.

The London to Scotland line runs via a number of West Midlands stations, including Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent and http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/mytownstafford">Stafford.

In the year 2007-2008, a total of 360 complaints per 100,000 passenger journeys were received.

Last year the figure soared to 548.

The statistics also showed that only 76.4 per cent of Virgin's trains ran on time in the January to March 2009 period – well below the national average of 90.3 per cent.

Network Rail (NR) completed the West Coast upgrade in December 2008 but continuing delays led the ORR to warn the company about its performance.

ORR also urged the NR committee deciding on the level of its top directors' bonuses to take the West Coast situation into account.

Last month NR announced that some of its directors would receive a performance-related bonus package of more than £300,000 this year.