UK rail operators to shift enquiry services to India

Indian staff will need to cope with queries about anything from the availability of smoking carriages on South-West trains to disabled access on Fort William sleeper and weekend engineering works on the Settle-Carlisle line, the daily said. They will have to know every fare and promotion on the network, including the difference between a saver, a supersaver, an off-peak saver and a weekender. An internal memo to the board of the Association of Train Operating Companies revealed that the chief executive of National Rail Enquiries, Chris Scoggins visited eight call centres in three Indian cities earlier this year. Scoggins found that they delivered an ‘‘excellent quality service’’. ‘‘In two operations the agents had virtually no Indian accent,’’ he added.

‘‘The business case is strong in Bangalore,’’ Scoggins said, but warned that ‘‘there may be trade union agitation and negative media coverage regarding jobs’’. In a statement, ATOC said it was evaluating bids from new suppliers for the service and would announce the results by the end of the year. Under the terms of their franchises, train operators are required to fund a national enquiries service, which provides all kinds of information about train services. They receive public subsidies from the strategic rail authority to fulfil their commitments. According to the report, British Telecom has a contract to answer many of the calls to the enquiries line, although the service is being re-tendered. BT is pressing for the move offshore, citing research facts that the public do not mind where the calls are answered from as long as their queries are solved.