Frequently Asked Questions

If you want more information about these issues or any other issue, please contact the National Helpline on 08457 11 41 41.

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We give advance notice of engineering works – where possible

When we are planning engineering works near residential areas, we aim to send letters to local people 10 days before the work begins. The letters explain what we plan to do and when we expect to start & finish the work. When a large engineering project is planned, we also tell local authorities and other community representatives such as members of parliament and local councillors.

For maintenance work (such as emergency repairs & general up-keep), it is not possible for us to tell the people who live nearby. This is because maintenance work takes place every day & night of the year which makes it impractical to give advance notice to all the people affected by every job.

You can find information about trains affected by engineering work & service alterations on the National Rail Enquiries website.

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We prioritise work properly with safety as the top priority

 With over 5 million people living near the railway and with over 22,000 miles of track, we have to prioritise our work. For example, if we received one request to remove a discarded supermarket trolley on the tracks and a second request to remove general litter on an embankment then we would always remove the trolley immediately & clear up the litter as part of scheduled maintenance work. This is because the trolley could be dangerous to people travelling & working on the railway.

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We are easy to contact if you have a problem or a question

Our National Helpline is here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to answer your questions and help with any problems caused by the railway. Every year, we respond to over 150,000 calls about a huge range of issues, ranging from overgrown trees to graffiti. You can telephone us on 08457 11 41 41 or contact us by our email form or in writing.

Our aim is to answer 90% of telephone calls within 25 seconds. Our people on the National Helpline will be courteous, helpful and give you their name & a unique service request number. We aim to provide you with clear & accurate information.

If we cannot give you an immediate answer, we will take your name, address & telephone number and get back to you as soon as we can.

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We will help you if you have a problem

Sometimes, people need our help. For example, if we have accidentally knocked down their back fence during some maintenance work then they need us to fix it.

Our Community Relations Team responds to problems which cannot be solved in one telephone call. They may even arrange for someone to visit the scene to investigate the situation and, if necessary, fix the problem.

All our work has to be prioritised and safety-critical work always comes first. For example, a shopping trolley on the tracks will be dealt with immediately but it can take a while for us to clean up graffiti. Some problems are complicated and we may need to bring in special equipment or check that conditions are safe for our workers. This can take some time to do properly.

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We will respond quickly if you contact us with a problem or a question

We aim to respond to all enquiries within 10 days, although some more complex cases may take a little longer. An up-date on your case can be obtained at anytime by phoning the National Helpline and quoting your service request number.

All our letters are from a named person and include our telephone number as well as the service request number.

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We have a complaints procedure that you can use if you are not happy with our response

If you are not satisfied with our response to your question or problem, then you can complain using our complaints procedure. 

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