Passengers given chance to get things off their chest over Milton Keynes trains

Brave train bosses are putting themselves in the firing line to field passengers' views on services from Milton Keynes.

London Northwestern Railway launched a major charm offensive after reliability nosedived and complaints soared in 2019.

Now, around 5,000 spaces are being made available for passengers to sign up and deliver their feedback on the 16 different routes operated by LNWR and its parent company West Midlands Trains.

But hey are sure to be in for a bumpy ride if Twitter is anything to go by as social media users regularly give the company a caning over delays, cancellations, overcrowding and freezing 16-year-old carriages.

But the operator, which recently unveiled a five-point improvement plan after being carpeted by the Government, are ready to take the comments on the chin.

David Whitley, head of customer experience strategy, said: "Our performance in the second half of last year was not good enough but now we are fully focused on making the improvements to give our customers the service they deserve.

“We’ve got a new team at the top and plans for big improvements throughout 2020 and we want to hear what is most important to our passengers. These new customer panels will help us understand what we’re getting right and where we need to rethink our approach.

"We want a variety of people to join the panels so that we can make sure we are delivering a service that is right for everyone."

LNWR hope that asking passengers to share their views will help build on recent performance improvements which have seen cancellations down by 80 per cent since December and punctuality rise from 68.1 per cent in November to 83.1 per cent in January.

Full details are available on the operator's website including the online application form.

The company replaced London Midland as operators of trains between London Euston and the Midlands via Milton Keynes, Bletchley and Leighton Buzzard in 2017, pledging a £1billion investment to deliver new trains, improved routes and station upgrades.

But they admit a new timetable introduced last May was too complex, bringing problems with staffing level and rolling stock reliability.