Rail Passenger Rights and Obligations
We know how important it is for you to have clear information on the service we are providing, and the rights you have. This page provides a one-stop summary of the key information you need from c2c, and provides direction to where you can find more detail elsewhere on this website.
-
Information and tickets
We provide information to help keep you updated before, during and after your journey.
- You can buy tickets, check prices and find out departure times from our website. This covers all rail journeys in the UK, not just on c2c. The information is also available on the c2c Train Travel app
- Our Service Alterations page provides detail on future planned engineering work or any other changes before you travel
- During your journey, our Live Travel Information page can keep you updated on any disruption and service alterations in real time. This covers both c2c trains and London Underground.
- If you travel regularly with c2c, you can set up a Travel Alert that proactively notifies you of any disruption to your journey
- We provide live travel information through Twitter, where our team can also provide advice and answer your questions
- For commuters, our online tool provides information on how busy each peak-time train normally is, to help you choose the service that suits you best
At our stations, our team will endeavor to help you with any questions you have. We publish information about normal ticket office opening times on our website, along with a guide to the facilities available such as toilets, waiting rooms and onward travel information. When no staff are available at a station, you can use the Help Point function to speak to a member of our team.
If you want any assistance with your journey, our Passenger Assist page provides a full guide to the support we offer and how you can book guaranteed assistance with your journey.
-
Punctuality and cancellations
We understand how important it is that we give you a punctual and reliable service that you can depend on.
To help build that confidence, every weekday we publish a summary of the previous day’s punctuality results. This page also provides information on overall performance in recent months.
Here is a summary of c2c’s punctuality performance for 2024/25:
Punctuality measure c2c performance On Time Arrival within 60 seconds of schedule at every stop 79.6% – 2024-2025 average Public Performance Measure (PPM – Arrival within 5 minutes at final destination) 92.10% -2024-2025 average Average delay (Average length of delay incurred for every train) Right Time Departures (Trains departing origin station within 60 seconds of schedule) 93.20% Total cancellations 1.7% – 2024-25 average When there is disruption, we follow the processes set out in our Passenger Information During Disruption report.
When there is significant disruption during rush hour, which affects a large number of customers, we publish an Incident Review summarising what happened, what the impact was, and what we did to manage the situation. These are published in our Latest News section, and are typically available for two months following the event.
- 80% of c2c customers said they were satisfied with the punctuality of our services.
- This compares to 80% average satisfaction among all London commuters
-
Cleanliness
We know that a clean train and station is one of the most important standards our customers expect from us. In the past year, this has been more important than ever. Since 2020, we introduced additional cleaning procedures to disinfect all touch points, both on-train and at stations.
Station cleaning is continuous. At busy stations, we have cleaners permanently on site. At quieter stations, our cleaners visit 2-3 times a day. Touch points at the station are disinfected each time a cleaner visits, as well as cleaning of toilets and litter picking. Stations are deep-cleaned at least every 8 weeks, with a full clean of platforms, furniture, railings, stairs and shelters
Trains are disinfected each time they enter the depot. This includes using specialist “fogging” equipment that can reach every surface. Litter is picked from the train at the end of each journey, and train toilets are also steam cleaned at least once a day.
The Statistics below comes from Wavelength which is an ongoing customer satisfaction survey managed by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) designed to keep our finger on the pulse and address the issues which matter to our customers. Here are the key results for 2024/25 on cleanliness and toilet facilities from Wavelength:
Satisfaction Measures c2c Performance London commuter average The station feels like a nice environment 75.40% 75.20% The train is clean 76.60% 75.40% The toilets at the station are clean 71.70% 70.10% The toilets when I arrive are clean 74.20% 73.60% The toilets on the train are clean 73.80% 70.70% -
Customer satisfaction
The Statistics below comes from Wavelength which is an ongoing customer satisfaction survey managed by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) designed to keep our finger on the pulse and address the issues which matter to our customers.
Here are the key c2c customer satisfaction results for 2024/25 from Wavelength:
Satisfaction Measures c2c Performance London commuter average The train departs on time 80.80% 79.80% The train arrives on time 81.50% 80.10% Any delays are communicated helpfully while i am waiting 78.00% 76.00% Any delays are communicated helpfully during my journey 77.40% 75.50% The statues of my train is visible 83.50% 83.40% I can find out how my Journey is going 79.90% 79.70% Staff find answers to any questions i have whilst waiting 77.70% 80.10% Staff find answers to my questions when traveling 80.20% 79.90% Staff find answers to my questions when traveling 80.20% 79.90% -
Complaints and compensation
We appreciate that sometimes things go wrong, or you are unhappy with the service you have received. We aim to make it simple for you to contact us, and we strive to resolve your concerns quickly and effectively.
Our contact details, including a simple form you can use to make a complaint or enquiry, is available on our website.
In 2024/25, our Customer Relations team received 3,151 complaints.
On average, complaints were closed in 13 working days. 96.8% of complaints were addressed within our target response time of 20 working days.
The main categories of complaint closed in 2024/25 were:
- Performance: 544 complaints
- Ticketing Policy & Refunds : 456
- How a resuest was handled by station staff: 271 complaints
- Online ticket buying: 249 complaints
- Smartcards: 192 complaints
- Station quality: 185 complaints
There was substantial work carried out across the business to address some of the issues which included:
Performance
c2c has observed a reduction in customer complaints regarding punctuality and reliability. In 2024/25, the primary cause of punctuality failures (delays) for c2c was due to external incidents, which accounted for 43% of our complaints. The second highest reason was cancellations, constituting 29% of our complaints.
We regularly hold “lessons learned” working groups that include numerous colleagues from across the business to identify areas for improvement and acknowledge successful efforts.
Targeted maintenance and upgrades are being prioritised based on data from incidents and failures to ensure we attempt to reduce the number of incidents throughout the year.
Network Rail has introduced several schemes, including a new tool in our joint signaling and control centre, aimed at improving incident management and implementing targeted maintenance schemes to reduce signaling, track, and overhead line incidents. c2c and Network Rail collaborate to develop plans for responding to weather events.
Ticketing Policy & Refund
Whenever we experience disruption across our route customers’ travel plans understandably change leading to an increase in complaints and naturally requests for refunds.
We are continuously reviewing ways to enhance our refund process. Some improvements include streamlining our internal procedures to simplify the refund process, which has led to fewer complaints from a station handling perspective in the latter part of the Rail year. We have also put a lot of effort into updating our refunds page, making it easier for customers to find the information they need.
How a station staff request was handled
Over the past year, we have implemented several initiatives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our front-line operations. We have introduced training sessions for all staff members and provided mobile phones to facilitate more accurate customer assistance. Additionally, we have begun sharing data with our station teams to enable more precise trend analysis which will enable us to target areas that may need more focus.
Our internal processes have been streamlined to improve the handling of customer requests. Streamlining this process has allowed our staff to be more flexible when resolving customer queries.
Online Ticketing Buying Facilities
Many of the complaints received were related to the ticket purchasing page on the app, where customers experienced time-outs while attempting to buy a ticket. After reviewing the issues, a change was implemented to enhance the app timeout feature, allowing it to refresh in the background without displaying a timeout message to our customers. This adjustment has led to an improvement in user experience and a reduction in the number of complaints submitted.
We also improved our digital channels in the following areas.
Android users were given the opportunity to add e-tickets to their Google Wallet, aligning with the similar and already existing iOS feature.
Car park occupancy data was made available on the app, aligning with the website.
Smartcard
We collaborated with industry colleagues to enhance customer service by making travel smoother, faster, and more reliable. We have centralised some of our digital platforms, facilitating the deployment of new ticketing features. This upgrade provides quicker service updates and improvements, better ticket tracking, reduced fraud, more reliable processing of smart tickets, and support for mobile ticketing and future technologies.
The new system is energy-efficient and adjusts automatically to manage peak travel times, ensuring smooth operations during busy periods.
Quality of station
Ensuring a clean and functional station is essential for providing customers with an optimal experience. We are implementing a scheme to enhance these efforts, which includes collaborating with our cleaning team to maintain station cleanliness by utilising real-time feedback from customers regarding any untidy areas. Additionally, we have raised awareness about the importance of keeping our trains and stations tidy. We are in the process of incorporating QR codes on our trains and at stations so that customers can report any unclean toilets or areas directly to us.
-
Assistance
We have a dedicated section on our website. This includes details of the support we can provide, contact information and advice on how to book assistance. Our Accessible Travel Policy (ATP) and supporting leaflet was approved by the ORR and is available for customers on our website. The ATP details any changes, improvements and initiatives we have delivered to improve accessibility within c2c.
In 2024/25 we received 4,788 requests for assistance at our stations. This is made up of 1,510 Prebooked assists and 3,278 Turn Up & Go requests, This is a substantial increase on the total amount of booking received in the previous year (2023/24)
We received 73 complaints about accessibility issues and facilities. This is a 13% reduction on the complaints received in 2023/24.