London Overground performance

Operational contingency plans

We have operational contingency plans, which are designed to reduce the inconvenience caused to customers during disruption. Our key contingency plans are as follows:

• Operational contingency plans - Individual plans for each of our lines of route, agreed with Network Rail and/or other train operators; these provide clear guidance to our Control team regarding the services we can operate when access to infrastructure is restricted
• Stranded trains procedure - this procedure provides guidance to our Control team regarding the process to be adopted if a train is stranded as well as information for the support teams who may be asked to attend the incident
• Defective on-train equipment procedure - these plans provide guidance on managing defects to equipment on our fleet
• Incident response procedure - these plans provide guidance on how to respond to various types of incidents which may affect our network, helping to minimise disruption.
• Key route strategy - these plans, which include emergency timetables, provide clarity regarding the services we will operate during extreme weather conditions when access to infrastructure may be limited

The decision to implement these contingency plans is taken by our control team in conjunction with the relevant Network Rail Control.

When our services are disrupted, our control team will:

• Issue a disruption message issued within 10 minutes of known or likely delays
• Issue updates every 20 minutes
• Display and update customer information screens
• Broadcast information over PA system every 5 minutes
• Ensure accurate information is provided to National Rail and TfL
• Arrange for ticket acceptance

Our station teams will:

• Be visible and available to proactively assist
• Ensure information about the delays/disruption is fully visible to customers entering the station
• Consider closing the station if disruption is severe or service suspended
• Make regular announcements ensuring customers are kept fully aware
• Assist customers by providing alternative routes to their destination
• Look out for any customers with disabilities or reduced mobility and provide additional assistance, arranging for alternative transport as necessary
• Encourage customers to claim a service delay refund if eligible

Each of our stations has a 'Disruption Kit', an easily accessible box of useful tools for staff to deliver the service to our customers during service disruption. The kits, containing items such as our alternative route plans, local bus route maps, barrier tape, loudhailers, and high visibility clothing.

We are currently working on a series of projects designed to improve and enhance the customer experience during disruption and have recently appointed a Head of Customer Information to take these forward and focus on improvement for all customers.

On the train we will:

• Make an announcement as soon as possible following a prolonged station stop
• Provide an update every 2-5 minutes, reducing to 10 minutes if the delay continues
• Give an update on the delay and arrival times once on the move

Last train policy

We aim to ensure customers whose last train is cancelled or who will mis their last connecting services due to disruption are not stranded with no alternative options. In such circumstances, we will arrange for the provision of alternative transport.

Delay compensation policy

Service delay refunds are available to customers who are delayed by more than 30 minutes on London Overground for reasons within our control.

Claims must be made via the TfL website - visit the London Overground and Elizabeth line delays page.

Cleanliness

Train cleaning

Our trains are cleaned at one end of each turnaround journey during the hours of operation. They are also cleaned overnight, have a weekly clean and a deep clean every month.

There are no accessible toilets on board any of our trains, but many of our stations have free access to toilets if required. For more information on where toilets are located on the London Overground route, see the Tube toilet map on the Accessibility guides page.

Performance: on board cleaning

We are surveyed quarterly as part of our contract with TfL. This survey measures overall satisfaction with the journey along with a number of different measures reflecting customer touchpoints.

Our Customer Satisfaction Survey results for cleanliness on the train showed 71.0% of customers were satisfied.

The National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) has been suspended since 2020.

Air flow

50% of the air that gets circulated through the trains is fresh air, not recycled or conditioned.

Measurements of airflow taken are:

• Fresh air flow rates in normal and emergency ventilation
• Velocities at the supply air diffusers
• Velocities in the area of standing and seated passengers in the saloon

Stations

We operate on a strict Key Performance Indicator regime to ensure the station environment is clean and comfortable and all station assets are in good working order.

Cleaners are present at our stations for most of the day to keep the station environment as clean, safe and clear of litter as possible. We also have a programme of regular deep cleans.

In 2021/22, TfL Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) results for cleanliness at stations showed 70.3% of customers were satisfied.

Customer satisfaction

We continuously monitor customer satisfaction through our contracted TfL metrics, namely the CSS and Staff Information Survey. We also use our customer complaints as a guide to how we can improve our levels of satisfaction.

We use this feedback across the business to direct long-term strategy, and tactically by customer-facing teams to help improve customer service.

Complaints data 2023/24

• Cases received: 808
• Cases closed: 783
• Cases closed within 10 working days: 85.4%
• Cases closed within 20 working days: 96.7%

Types of complaint - top 5

• Train Service Performance
• Attitude and helpfulness of staff
• Your personal security at station
• Provision of information
• Upkeep/repair of station buildings/platforms

Complaints Continuous Improvement report

While the London Overground forms part of the United Kingdom's National Rail network, it is under the concession control and branding of Transport for London (TfL).

All customer correspondence is handled by the TfL Customer Contact Centre. The team is available to speak to customers over the phone and reply to any queries and complaints via email and webform. The TfL contact centre team will use the customer's preferred contact method when responding to a complaint. The team at TfL also handle all requests for compensation due to delays and other compensation requests on a case-by-case basis.

Information on how to submit a complaint regarding our services is available on the Help & contacts page. Our customer facing teams are trained on the complaints process as part of their induction and further ongoing training. They are able to signpost our customers to the complaints process if they are unable to resolve the complaint themselves at the time. They are also supplied with customer contact cards containing details of how to contact TfL.

Once received complaints and commendations are forwarded to the relevant department for investigation. We work to strict timelines to ensure the team at the contact centre can respond the correspondence. We also endeavour to provide TfL information in advance to help expedite their replies. All customer complaints are taken seriously and used, in conjunction with our customer metrics, to inform our customer experience improvement strategies.

Customers who are unsatisfied with how their case is handled are signposted to the Ombudsman. London Overground ombudsman referrals are extremely low with fewer than 10 annually.

Aside from customer complaints, TfL gain feedback from passengers, including those with disabilities through other methods. This can include surveys, and online feedback forms. Outcomes are shared with Senior management and the customer proposition team review this feedback to identify issues and concerns and develop improvement plans.

In addition, we conduct regular assessments of services and facilities helps identify areas that may need improvement. These assessments can be performed internally or by third-party organizations specialising in accessibility.

Engagement with advocacy groups and building relationships with disability advocacy groups is very beneficial as these groups can provide insights into the challenges faced by disabled passengers and offer recommendations for improvement. Regular meetings and forums facilitate open communication.

By integrating strategies, we can not only address current issues but also create a framework that promotes continuous improvement and ensures a positive experience for everyone.

Key complaints and continuous improvement

Train Service Performance

We're aware the key driver for customer satisfaction is our service, so we aspire to run a service that is efficient and on time. However, when things go wrong, we must be in a position to assist customers and assist them with empathy.

For all significant incidents our performance team carry out reviews to ensure they fully understand root causes and conduct reviews to establish actions that can be implemented to reduce risk and minimise repeat incidents.

Specific line meetings are held regularly and are attended by operations teams, stations teams and relevant people from Network Rail. These meetings focus on the delivery of improvement plans. These include deep dives into persistent asset failures on the Watford to Euston line with plans to deliver significant signalling asset improvement works.

On the North London line, a bespoke 'scorecard has been created to hold our teams to account. This enables us to look at some leading measures to ensure we are resilient, and to proactively target issues that could lead to performance incidents, alongside a twice weekly joint call with ARL Control, NR Control, Signallers, Performance teams and infrastructure deliverers.

Often disruption occurrences are prolonged due to availability of key operational persons. To address this, our performance teams are working with Network Rail across different routes to establish how we can get better coverage from their Mobile Operations Managers (MOMs) who are key to resolving many issues.

Another area we are reviewing is out stranded train response, the detraining process can be lengthy due to the logistics and, at times, the availability of key operational staff. A stranded train can impact the entire service for a lengthy period of time, this could be helped by better coverage of the Network Rail MOMs, and other workstreams include working with our trade unions to implement a train-to-train ramp that would expedite the detraining process.

Adverse weather can also impact our service, so our teams attend additional Emergency Weather readiness conferences to help us better prepare and mitigate associated risk.

A high percentage of performance complaints are down to Early Departures, all complaints of this nature are investigated. These are tracked daily and are reviewed periodically at driver depot-based Operations Business reviews with the Head of Operations, to make sure that worst performing drivers, diagrams, or locations have plans for improvement. This may be individual plans for drivers to make sure they follow their schedules more accurately, or improvements to timetables. One example is the June timetable, the team are making changes to a particular service which was reported to depart early from Denmark Hill on a regular basis. The root cause was identified, and the timetable adjusted accordingly.

While Overall Satisfaction has seen a slight increase of 0.7% this year, we would expect to see a higher level of satisfaction once many of these initiatives have had the opportunity to embed. Customer satisfaction with wait time for train has increased by 1.5%.

Attitude and helpfulness of staff

We have recently introduced a Customer Proposition department with a view to enhancing the customer experience though analysis of metrics and complaints and setting these in context of the wider business. One of the aims of the department is to champion the voice of the customer and ensure each department takes responsibility for their contribution to the overall quality of the customer experience.

One key aspiration is for our customer facing staff to foster a positive, can-do attitude towards our customers, how we deliver our service is as important as what we deliver. Even when things go wrong, if we can treat our customers with respect and empathy, especially where they may need additional assistance.

Our Staff & Information Survey assesses how our staff engage with customers through a 'mystery shopper' type audit and this, in conjunction with staff complaints, led us to develop the Customer Commitments programme. This programme aims to combine all elements of the customer facing role bringing in the importance of the customer in all tasks. We developed this programme in conjunction with our union representatives and involved some our customer facing staff to provide feedback.

We developed the training to focus on behaviours, especially the benefits of emotional intelligence. To do this we have introduced something called the 'Jigsaw Discovery' framework. This looks at personality/behavioural types, and how they interact with each other and exhibit certain traits in particular situations. The aim is to encourage our customer facing teams to see the perspective of 'the other'.

In the past we have set up several training initiatives, and while we saw some improvement, this was not always embedded. We identified this was down to the fact that, post training, learning outcomes were not kept alive. To change this, the Customer Proposition team developed and enhanced a team of Peer Trainers whose function is to ensure the quality of performance of the customer facing teams, carrying out coaching, observation and embedding learning outcomes of our training sessions.

Our station management and Revenue Protection management teams investigate all staff complaints and where they identify a trend with a member of staff, this is discussed and followed up and appropriate action taken. Management presence at stations has been enhanced behaviours that fall below expected standards of attitude or helpfulness are challenged.

As many of our customer facing staff are agency staff, the station management team have regular review meetings with the agency supervisors to discuss any issues, pain points or good work that they are doing. These frequent meetings help us to get things addressed quickly. Our agency contract is under review, and we will ensure that the standards of training and engagement meet our requirements.

We are able to measure our staff engagement levels through our Staff & Information survey results which have seen a steady increase this year and our most recent scores have been the highest since the pandemic.

Similarly, the staff measures in our Customer Satisfaction Survey have also increased this year with satisfaction with availability of staff increasing by 2.0% and satisfaction with helpfulness and general attitude of staff increasing by 2.1%.

Your personal security/safety at stations

The main cause for complaints in this category is the perception staff are ignoring fare evaders. While this may appear to be the case, it is important to highlight that we operate a hands-off policy to ensure the safety of our stations staff.

Our Revenue Protection and Security team have developed and app where our stations teams record occurrences of fare evasion they witness or that has been reported to them by customers. Data from this app is analysed and drives our Revenue Protection Deployments, enabling our Revenue Protection teams to target their activities.

In addition to the data gathered from stations, our Revenue Protection Teams maximise their visibility by carrying out 'train busting' exercises checking tickets on trains as well as station blocks.

We are also working with Cubic, who supply our gate-line product, to test enhancements, and increase the 'push through' force to prevent people attempting to push through.

Our current rate of ticketless travel is 2.59% meaning that 97.41% do have tickets to travel.

Anti-social behaviour is also another recurring team in this category and our Revenue & Security Team utilises a mixture of Stakeholder engagement, Problem Management Plans, and Data analysis to combat crime and Anti-social behaviour.

On review of the data, a new team of Safety & Security Enforcement officers (SSEO) have been introduced to address issues with anti-social behaviour and provide a positive and reassuring presence. In addition, we have created a Joint working plan with other TfL modes and British Transport Police (BTP) to address trends in behaviour.

To further enhance the safety and security of our customers and customer facing staff, our CCTV Estate is being reviewed to consider a proposal to enhance and modernise our offering developed with BTP.

Our most recent results show that London Overground ARL had 7.78 crimes per million passengers. This compares favourably with the national average.

Another trend in this category is the occurrence of slips/trips and falls, to address this, a specific action plan has been implemented according to data. Floor surfaces have been applied with non-slip treatment at stations where required. The Station management team are looking at campaigns focusing on alerting customers on weather conditions customers on how we alert customers to the impact of weather conditions. Water ingress at some stations has been identified as a risk and has been tackled, at least initially, by ordering absorbent mops which can absorb large amounts of water. Further analysis of stations with this issue will be conducted shortly and further measures evaluated.

In terms of customer metrics, we have seen a 1.1% increase in satisfaction with Personal safety/security at stations.

Provision of information

During disruption, customers need to have a level of information so they can make informed decisions on how to continue their journey and to do this, the information our control team put out needs to be timely and accurate.

One key initiative this past year has been to introduce a new system, Tyrell couple with an app for our staff devices. Previously, our control team were unable to share individual train service alterations with stations. This meant the control team would have to contact stations manually to advise them of individual alterations and there was not always the capacity to do so. As a result, our station teams were not always aware of what was happening so they couldn't give out quality information.

Tyrell creates individual train service alteration messages, which are then pushed out through the staff app, Arrakis, giving the station teams the ability to see much more information all in one place, therefore being able to better inform customers of actual or likely changes to the train service.

In addition, the Customer Information team have been trained on our 'Wonderwall' system, ensuring they are able to update the screens at the entrance to a number of our stations, ensuring our customers are able to make better informed decisions about the journey before going through the gate line.

In addition to the above we have replaced Customer Information Screens at stations operating on a different system ensuring all stations screens are served by the same system. This has reduced the number of systems that the Control team need to input information thus ensuring information gets out quickly.

Aligned with the improvements made in control, we have set up a Customer Information Working group which brings together station and control teams to consider disruption, capture lessons learned and evaluate best practice and solutions.

We have created disruption collateral packs to standardise approach and feel but provide hyper local information to keep customers in control, this includes tailored posters to support customers with onward travel. We have received positive feedback from both customers and stations teams.

A Customer Information survey has been set up to take place each year to understand challenges our customer facing teams face and to hear their views and ideas on improvement strategies. This has resulted in the change in systems and introduction of the Arrakis app.

In conjunction with the line naming project, we are simplifying our Wonderwall screens to and aligned to latest industry guidance. We are also working on two innovation stations to test market on improvements within Customer Information Screens to be incorporated into replacement programme utilising the TfL accessibility group to feedback and inform

We have also Invested in innovation to trial digital help point incorporating BSL to support our diverse needs of customers.

Levels of customer satisfaction for Information provision at stations has increased by 1.2%.

Upkeep/repair of station buildings/platforms

Lift failures have been the most frequent complaint is this category and measures are being taken to ensure better reliability of lifts through pro-active management. One measure taken was to carry out services on the doors of some of the worst performing lifts resulting in some small-scale corrective actions where issues were identified.

Similarly oil 'health checks' were undertaken this period on 6 of our worst performing lifts. Working with our contractors we have set up a Failure Reporting & Corrective Action System (FRACAS) which sets the requirement for the contractor to provide root cause analysis when a lift is out of service for 72 hours or more.

Improvement on lift failures is a work in progress requiring collaboration and cop-operation with Network Rail and TfL.

Cleanliness of stations especially toilets has also shown a trend in this category and our facilities management team have been taking corrective action with our current cleaning contractors. We are also in the process of updating contracts with agency providers to create better reporting and monitoring.

Our facility management team have agreed a recovery plan with our maintenance provider to address fault resolution timelines and reporting.

Customer satisfaction with cleanliness of stations has increased by 1.5%.

Delay compensation continuous improvement

Transport for London (TfL) and Arriva Rail London's (ARL) continuous improvement program outlines the activities that TfL and ARL has conducted in respect of making progress towards meeting the ORR requirements, as outlined in the Delay Compensation Code of Practice.

Platform announcements

London Overground now broadcast the following messages at all London Overground stations:

To be broadcast every 4 hours: Customer Information, you may be entitled to a refund if your London Overground journey was delayed for 30 minutes or more. Please check the TfL website for more information.

To be broadcast during disruption: We are sorry for the delay that you are currently experiencing. If you are delayed for more than 30 minutes you may be entitled to a refund. Check the TfL website for the latest travel and refund information.

Paper and magnetic tickets

TfL meets most of the requirements related to processing claims. A project was initiated in January 2023 to meet compliance with the following Delay Compensation Code of Practice requirements. The project seeks to reintroduce an online process for magnetic and ITSO claims. Giving better feedback on reasons for refund rejection.

Customers can currently claim ITSO and magnetic delay refunds online through our normal 'contact us' webform. Customers can also claim a refund by post and over the phone for those tickets.

Social Media messaging

TfL now posts the following on their social media channels every 3-4 weeks and reactively at times of disruption. These social media posts share more information about how customers can claim.

If customers receive delays of up to 30 minutes or more on London Overground, they may be entitled to compensation.

Proactive messaging

If you have encountered a delay on the London Overground, you may be able to get a refund if your journey was delayed for 30 minutes or more.

Reactive messaging (shared post disruption)

If you encountered delays on the London Overground recently, you may be entitled to a refund for your journey.

If the delay happened in the last 28 days and you were delayed for 30 minutes or more, you can claim a refund with a contactless and Oyster account.

Assistance

Assigned wheelchair spaces and clearly marked priority seats are on all our trains for the use of disabled passengers or those less able to stand. While seats cannot be reserved, we make every effort to provide a suitable seat when required. There are two options for people needing assistance:

Turn Up and Go (TUAG)

London Overground operates a predominately Turn up and Go service. This means customers do not have to book in advance. We have staff at all our London Overground stations during train operating hours. If a customer needs assistance, they can simply speak to a member of staff who will be happy to help. They will also ensure that staff at the destination station is ready to provide assistance on arrival.

We do ask that customers requiring assistance arrive at least 10 minutes before the service they want to travel on. This will ensure all the necessary checks are made to ensure staff are available to assist at the destination station.

Pre-booked assistance

Customers can also pre-book assistance if preferred. London Overground participates in and fully supports the Passenger Assist system to ensure assistance can be booked for the entire journey, regardless of which Train Operating Company runs the other train services or the stations involved.

For journeys continuing beyond the London Overground network, assistance can be booked at least 2 hours in advance. These commitments apply to all Train Operating Companies as terms of their licences.

There is no minimum notice period for pre-booking assistance if you are travelling on London Overground services only.

Assistance can be booked either through:

TfL contact centre

08:00-20:00 Monday-Sunday (excluding 25 December/Christmas Day)
Phone: 0343 222 1234 (call charges may apply)
Text direct: (18001) 0343 222 1234 (for people with hearing impairments)

Or

National Rail enquiries

24 hours a day on: 0800 0223720

Types of assistance

London Overground is committed to helping you travel more easily. Staff at all London Overground-managed stations can help with:

• Planning your journey
• Getting on and off the train
• Boarding with wheelchairs, scooters or other mobility aids
• Transferring between trains or other modes of onwards transport at our stations
• Buying tickets
• Obtaining priority seats and dedicated wheelchairs spaces
• Seat reservations on other train operators
• Knowledge of services and facilities available on all stations and trains
• Luggage

Our staff are regularly trained and are willing to assist passengers with both visible and non-physical impairments. They are available to help while trains are running.

Contact centre details

The customer service contact centre team is available for you to find out more about London Overground services and stations or provide feedback on the services and facilities that we provide. You can contact them by:

Post: TfL customer services, 4th Floor, 14 Pier Walk, London, SE10 0ES

Telephone: 0343 222 1234 (call charges may apply), 08:00-20:00 Monday-Sunday (excluding December 25/Christmas Day)

Textphone: 08001 123 456