how are we performing

All of our trains have clear signage throughout, giving information about the location and availability of onboard toilets, priority seating and other facilities.  Customers can also ask any Customer Experience Ambassador onboard a Lumo train for this information.  Information regarding the next station will be announced onboard by our Customer Experience Ambassadors and in the case of delays, our Customer Experience Ambassadors will announce information at appropriate intervals.  Information about incidents which cause significant disruption is available from Lumo’s Website here with journey checker.

Safety information can be found onboard, and the Customer Experience Ambassadors will also make announcements shortly before departure. Further information about security can be found at Lumo Safety & Security.

We do not manage any stations and therefore any services provided at the stations at which we call are the responsibility of the Station Facility Operator.  We are advocates of the ‘One Team’ approach to managing stations, which means that we work closely and regularly engage with the Station Facility Operators and other operators at the stations we serve.  For our customers, this means that whoever you speak to, or deal with at a station, they should respond to your query or request in the same way as we would, regardless of whom you are travelling with. Further information about the stations we serve can be found here with where we go.

Our timetables are available on website here at timetables or through our app LumoGo which can be downloaded from your local app store.

Information about train platforms can be found on the National Rail website and on customer information screens at stations.

Information about train platforms can be found on our LumoGo app in the ‘live trains’ section, on our website live train times, on the National Rail website and on Customer Information Screens at stations.

Customers can purchase tickets on our website at train tickets, via the LumoGo app or on board our trains via our Customer Experience Ambassadors.

We do not manage any stations and therefore any services provided at the stations at which we call are the responsibility of the Station Facility Operator.  We are advocates of the ‘One Team’ approach to managing stations, which means that we work closely and regularly engage with the Station Facility Operators and other operators at the stations we serve.  For our customers, this means that whoever you speak to, or deal with at a station, they should respond to your query or request in the same way as we would, regardless of whom you are travelling with.  Further information about the stations we serve can be found here with station information.

We can help with Passenger Assistance here at Lumo Passenger Assist.

Our Accessible Travel Policy is our commitment to delivering a consistent, excellent service, making journeys easy, convenient and accessible for all our customers.  Our Making Rail Accessible leaflet is available on request from all of the stations at which we call.

At Lumo we set ourselves high standards of train punctuality and make every effort to get customers to their destination on time.   

The table below shows our train service performance from 1st April to 31st March 

Our arrangements for managing train service disruption is set out in our ‘Pledges' which can be found on our website here. When our services are disrupted, we will aim to issue information through our social media channels, here at National Rail and information about incidents which cause significant disruption via Journey Checker. If you would like to know more about who’s involved and how we inform customers when our services are disrupted, please see our jargon free customer friendly document here.

Our arrangements for compensation are set out Delay Repay. To apply for Delay Repay compensation please visit our online Delay Repay website. It was a challenging period for 2024/25 as Lumo experienced restrictions during multiple storms and many industry infrastructure incidents down the east coast main line.

Our performance in relation to delay compensation 1st April – 31st March compared with the previous year was:

To apply for a refund, customers should go back to their ticket retailer to obtain this unless they have used their ticket on an alternative service to which delay repay could be claimable for delays 30mins or more. If you bought your ticket through the Lumo website or app please visit our Refund website.

When trains are cancelled, we provide the same information and help we give to customers affected by delays, and the same compensation policy applies.  We set ourselves high standards of train punctuality and make every effort to get customers to their destination on time.   

The table below shows our train service cancellations for 1st April to 31st March compared to the previous year was:

At Lumo we do our very best to ensure that our trains are clean, well presented and comfortable with a full range of facilities available. Our Customer Experience Ambassadors undertake regular in transit, on the go cleaning as well as our station cleaning team for an extensive turn around clean at terminus stations, making sure all our trains are cleaned and remain clean whilst you travel. Cleanliness and hygiene are high on Lumo priorities both in between services and throughout each journey. All our Customer Experience Ambassadors will ensure the environment is clean and have received clear training and guidance regarding standards that will make sure you can relax and feel comfortable during your travel experience. At regular intervals the Customer Experience Ambassadors will pass through the carriages collecting rubbish, disposing and where practicable. Additional ‘deep cleaning’, i.e. where more intensive seat, floor and wall cleaning is done, will take place overnight prior to the next day’s service.  All processes and practices are driven to enhance your travel experience. We undertake regular auditing of our train cleaning arrangements and from May 2025, we will be rolling out and refitting all our trains with a new durable seat fabric and high comfort arm rests to further enhance customer comfort and travel experience.

All of our trains are equipped with air conditioning. The train ventilation systems ensure a continuing supply of fresh air throughout the whole journey.  Should this fail our Customer Experience Ambassadors will do everything they can to move customers to an alternative coach. Each of our trains has five air conditioning units on board. 

Our performance for these during 1st April – 31st March compared to our previous year was:

Performance area	2023/24	2024/25
air conditioning availability onboard	100%	100%

Our trains are fitted with four toilets, of which two are accessible toilets. Our performance for these during 1st April – 31st March compared to our previous year was:

Performance area	2023/24	2024/25
Toilet availability onboard	96%	97%

We continuously monitor customer satisfaction across a range of channels, including national surveys carried out by Great British Railways, and  our own customer satisfaction surveys, together with those from the Institute of Customer Survey results and a Mystery Shopping Scheme.
Furthermore, we survey customers who have contacted us both pre and post journey using our contact centre.

All this customer feedback is used across the business by senior management to direct long-term strategy and tactically by customer-facing teams, to help improve the whole customer experience.

We’re committed to consistently delivering excellent service and making journeys easy and convenient for all our customers. We know that things can sometimes go wrong, or we can do things differently, and we'd like you to tell us when this happens. 

Continuous improvement is important to us and the way we are set up means we’re able to quickly and effectively implement change based on our customers’ feedback, so we’ll use this to:

• identify trends and the root causes of complaints.
• assess and make changes to the way we work to continually improve our services.
• review how we respond to feedback and how we can improve in doing so further.

We welcome your feedback and complaints as an opportunity to learn and help us to be better at what we do, with a key focus on safety related issues, as well as accessibility complaints. Our Complaints Handling Procedure can be found here.  There are multiple ways that you can contact Lumo, which can be found at Lumo Railhelp.  You can also find an FAQ section on our website (Lumo Help). This page is regularly updated thanks to your feedback and is there to help you easily resolve your concerns.

The number of complaints received during 1st April – 31st March compared to our previous year was down 40%.
 
The number of complaint cases closed during the period saw the following change:

• 7.71% decrease in closure rate within 10 days
• 1.43% decrease in closure rate within 20 days

We saw an increase of 2.43 days on the average to close claims within the period compared to the previous year.

Metric	2023/24	2024/25
a) Volume received	2,554	1,534
b) Closed within 10 working days	93.80%	89.09%
c) Closed within 20 working days	99.77%	98.34%
d) Average time to close claims within period (working days)	2.32	4.75

Our top five categories’ of 2023/24 complaints received during 1 April - 31 March compared with the top five for the following year were as follows:  

Complaint Category	Number of complaints 2023/24
Punctuality & Reliability	498
Tickets and Refunds	291
Sufficient Room to Sit or Stand on Train	238
Compensation Claim Process	178
Claim Rejected	133

Complaint Category	Number of complaints 2024/25
Punctuality & Reliability	257
Sufficient Room to Sit or Stand on Train	122
Tickets and Refunds	113
Onboard Policy	95
Compensation Claim Process	93

Punctuality & Reliability

We are working closely with our planning and onboard crew, looking at different services each week to analyse all delay reports and collate common themes with a strong focus on Right Time Departures.

We are promoting improved reporting from our Drivers and Customer Ambassadors for all delays.  This will enable us to learn and improve identifying specific trends.

We are working closely with our control centre team (who manage our train service day to day), to actively encourage communication with Network Rail and help us to regulate trains where they can, promoting direct routing when the opportunity arises to try to reduce time to any delays.

We conduct regular periodic disruption reviews to analyse and look for process improvements, including both internal and external colleagues.

Sufficient room to sit or stand

We conducted a deep dive analysis where we found some complaints required recategorise to space for luggage. 

We also use demand-based pricing to encourage customers to use our less busy services, helping to continue to offer value for money and use best use of the capacity on our trains

From the end May 2024, we are introducing 4 additional “end of coach” luggage racks to create extra storage, this will enable customers to store their luggage rather than use seats that can be used for those standing. 

Our customers affected by disruption, will now be offered alternative ticket validity, at no extra cost, on Lumo services prior and post the service.   Dependant on the severity of the disruption,  we will also offer the opportunity to use disruption tickets at no extra cost, to travel the next day or days on any Lumo service.

We have partnered with a third-party operator, offering customers a left luggage option called “Stasher” at over 3000 locations in 600 cities.  This will enable those with return day trip tickets,  the chance to travel luggage free using our booking link on our website luggage storage.

Finally, we have refocused our weekly internal management review system which looks at forthcoming events, so that late notice events are picked up more quickly and we can respond and adapt to these better.

Tickets & Refunds / Compensation Claim Process / Claim Rejected

On our Lumo engineering webpage, we have included information on specific dates that are awaiting Network Rail confirmation before tickets can be retailed, reducing the likelihood of someone purchasing an open ticket for a date when we are not running.  We do not sell our Advance fares on engineering dates until we know what specific service we are operating.

Our social media team use disruption information graphics, to help guide customers when claiming for either Delay Repay or refund from the ticket retailer or direct with ourselves. 

Our on-board Customer Experience Ambassadors will announce about the ability to claim Delay Repay and will give general delay information, together with utilising the LED visual and audio system through the Train Management System (TMS) enroute and before arrival into all terminus stations.

We have added additional information on our web pages to help and guide customer to using the correct links for all claims together with station posters including QR codes to help direct those down the correct channel for claims.  We have also introduced QR codes on dedicated Delay & Refund posters positioned around the stations at which we call. This is all designed to help guide our customers to the correct channel to claim. 

To help speed customer reimbursement, we now use the NatWest PayIt system, thus reducing the wait time and need to issue cheques for disruption consequential costs.
Recent resolution of a long-standing issue with the GlobalPay merchant payment system will also help reduce the card payment failures.  Previously this has resulted in a postal cheque alternative option being provided, which extended the time for customers to receive payments, but with the resolution of the problem payments using this method should be vastly reduced. 

Our IT team have included mandatory attachment fields on webforms, designed to capture required evidence and reduce repeat information requests that our customers may receive.

In March 2025, we introduced a new booking flow through our website and a ‘seat picker’ facility enabling customers to view seat availability and select an alternative seat whilst booking their ticket.  The enhancements also improved the functionality and additional customer friendly features.  We hope to roll this enhancement within the LumoGo App during the current year.

In general

We are also focusing on customer enquiries to understand the underlying issues, that may develop into a complaints.  By identifying areas at an early stage, our aim is to then limit trends that would increase complaint numbers if not addressed.

Facilities onboard was another key area identified that resulted in increased customer complaints. We have been working tirelessly with our engineering team to limit the toilet maintenance issues experienced throughout the year. Through our work with Hitachi (our train maintenance provider), new improved toilet modifications have been installed to help limit future defects.
Onboard Policy complaints were mainly around our onboard Luggage Policy, where we have worked closely with third party ticket retailers to guide customers to what to expect when travelling with us, before purchasing their travel tickets. Through our new software booking flow, we’ve introduced a confirmation box that the customer has read & understood the Lumo Onboard Luggage Policy, again before confirming any ticket purchase.  

We have since seen a positive impact and improvement through a decrease in the complaint categories identified.

We will continue to listen and focus on our customers’ feedback and follow up by applying learning where we can.

We continuously review key areas of concern, targeting investment for improvement as part of our business planning process.

Our focus will remain to reduce complaints through customer information which has already seen a positive 40% reduction in number from year 2023/4 to 2024/5.

How we can help with Passenger Assistance including how you can book can be found here .

Our Lumo Accessible Travel Policy is our commitment to delivering a consistent, excellent service, making journeys easy, convenient and accessible for all our customers.  Our Making Rail Accessible leaflet is available on request from all of the stations at which we call.

If pre-booking in advance is not possible, we also offer Turn-Up-And-Go.  We ask our customers to arrive at least 20 minutes before departure. We understand that not all customers are aware of the different ways they can get assistance when travelling by train, so we widely communicate that customers can request Passenger Assistance, and not only those with visible disabilities. We also want our customers to understand that booking Passenger Assist or using the Turn Up and Go service at a station is available for everyone who may need it, including those who are not travelling on their own. We ask our customers to arrive at least 20 minutes before departure – this is a non-guaranteed assistance booking although we will endeavour to support wherever possible. 

Our onboard team undergo 2 yearly accessible travel refresher training program, keeping those customers requiring a little extra help at the forefront of their minds.  We include regular updates on policy changes together with a more detailed brief during their twice a yearly, face to face, safety brief meetings. 

Lumo PA Bookings 1st April – 31st March compared to the previous years was:

Performance area	2023/24	2024/25
Passenger Assistance Bookings	2,575	3,249

Top 5 PA Complaints 1st April – 31st March compared with the same category for the previous year.

Passenger Assistance Complaints	2023/24
Other accessibility	10
Assistance booking process	5
Booked assistance not provided at the station	4
Booked assistance not provided on train	3
Alternative Accessible Transport (AAT) - rail replacement related	2

Passenger Assistance Complaints	2024/25
Assistance Staff	6
General Unhappiness with Passenger Assistance	4
Booked assistance not provided at station	3

Assistance staff & generally unhappy with Passenger Assist

We focused on all Passenger Assist complaints to identify any trends.  We identified a significant increase in the number of “Assistance Staff” complaints with requests from parents with pushchairs for which this type of assistance is not within the PA specification.
    
Some customers claimed they were unaware where to check-in thus no assistance was received.  As a result, we’ve highlighted the importance for the PA booking agents to repeat to customers that they need to report to assistance staff and meeting points when arriving at their departure station. 

We been working closely with the Rail Delivery Group and colleagues from industry partners, regarding the amount of luggage customers who have booked assistance bring with them. This puts pressure on station resources especially at peak times of the year. We will continue to focus on both website and direct PA agent bookings to inform all customers of our luggage policy and where to find the assistance meeting point at their booked station or stations.

Assistance booking process

We have been working closely with our PA providers to understand any contingency plans that are in place, when PA seating systems are unavailable / offline.

We have seen an increase in Turn-Up-and-Go (TUAG) customers joining our late services that will subsequently arrive out of the assistance team hours at the terminus station. Our onboard Customer Experience Ambassadors will support customers as much as we can upon arrival, but we are informing our customers to know in advance of travel what support can be expected, should they wish not to travel.

Booked assistance not provided at station

After investigation, we found the majority failed assistance were related to delays and subsequent arrival at stations out of hours. 
We have addressed this with the onboard crew to speak with the customers to ascertain if help is required on the station platforms, liaising with our control centre teams if additional help or onward travel is required and can be arranged.

We’ve spoken with our station teams who book ‘TUAG’ customers on later services, to fully communicate that some stations like Morpeth are not manned 24/7, thus the onboard crew will only be able to help customers onto the platform rather than through the station.  This has also been highlighted in our ATP policy and leaflet. 

We have also highlighted the importance to the onboard crew to record in the PA App any new customer seating arrangements, should this differ from originally reserved seating.  This will in turn, aid the arrival station team to locate and help customers alighting, reducing assistance failures.