This is the age of virgin terrain

Your article on the rail companies’ efforts to win back lost passengers “Virgin Terrain” (MW January 18) argues that the rail industry is one of the few remaining sectors where marketing has yet to establish itself.

I have another perspective on what is the most difficult period since rail privatisation in 1996. There are certainly challenges involved, notably the web of regulation and franchise agreements. And few industries are so prone to political intervention, with counter-productive consequences.

Despite this the rail marketers were doing a good job before Hatfield, with passenger numbers up by eight per cent each year since privatisation. The trains were starting to claw back market share for the first time in 40 years. So successful was the rail revival that managing capacity became the major challenge for the industry.

Then came Hatfield. In its aftermath Railtrack imposed blanket speed restrictions on most train operators. This played havoc with timetables, increased journey times and reduced services in some areas.

Although the effects of Railtrack’s action did, as the article suggests, vary from route to route, no one can doubt that some commuters were subjected to the most consistently disrupted train service in a generation.

Is it any wonder that rail marketing types have been less than bouncy in recent months? Who do you think was standing in the front line as their customers let off their very understandable frustration?

And I fail to see how they can be accused of causing needless damage to the industry when all they were doing was communicating as best they could the impact of their monopoly supplier’s decisions.

Yes, they do want to get the service “back on track” for customers as fast as they can. Indeed, they know they have to: the only way train companies can make a profit is if they increase the number of passengers and their spend faster than the Treasury reduces subsidy.

So what do they have to do, now that a return to normal begins to look within the rail industry’s reach?

I don’t for one moment doubt that initiatives such as Virgin’s will put bums back on seats, nor that advertising will have a role to play in making potential passengers aware that things are a lot better now. We need this kind of high profile stuff to kick life back into the railways.

But please don’t confuse advertising and promotional gimmicks with real marketing. All the research we did at Chiltern Railways clearly and consistently shows that true passenger satisfaction depends on things that a cheque book alone can’t buy. Things such as a reliable service, enough seats, clean trains, helpful staff, improved access to the system, safe, secure-parking and decent passenger information.

If all this doesn’t sound like the most exciting, headline-grabbing type of marketing, you’re right – it isn’t. But it’s true marketing nevertheless because it’s responding to customers’ wants and needs.

But should the marketer have acted sooner to reassure their customers that all was well? Who would have believed them when the evidence to the contrary was all around? Even today, most services are still not back to the pre-Hatfield timetable. Far better surely to under-promise and over-deliver until your instincts tell you the time has come to take a more positive line.

I suspect that Virgin has got it just about right with its current ad campaign.

Alex Turner

Marketing director

Chiltern Railways 1994-1999