Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their plans to improve compensation for rail travellers include the establishment of a Rail Ombudsman, with powers similar to those of the Energy Ombudsman.

Under existing arrangements, if a rail passenger is not happy with a train operator’s response to a complaint they can contact either Transport Focus (TF) or London TravelWatch (LTW) who work to resolve the issue with the train operator on their behalf. We are considering how to strengthen these arrangements, taking account of arrangements in other sectors. This has included discussions led by the Rail Minister with TF, LTW, the Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Delivery Group.