A TRAIN company dogged by driver shortages and cancelled services is promising to improve communications with its customers when things go wrong.

The launch of the initiative by Arriva Trains Northern was welcomed by a passenger pressure group last night as positive news.

The scheme will include 50 customer action volunteers across Arriva's network in the North-East.

Bosses hope the trained volunteers will provide additional support to station employees when Arriva services are affected for a number of hours.

Brian Milnes, chairman of Transport 2000 Tees Valley, said: "We do welcome any positive initiatives they come forward with, but we remain a bit cynical because of what has happened in the past.

"Many people who have experienced a bad day on the trains will know what I am talking about.

"They have certainly got room for improvement, but they do seem to be trying."

The company transports more than 100,000 people a day across the north of England, on networks used by five other operators.

Bosses accept the complexity of the network means there will always be the potential for delays, such as track or signal failure or operators having a problem with one of their trains.

In June, Arriva was criticised by the Commons Transport Select Committee after disruptions to services caused by driver shortages.

A report by MPs on the committee said: Problems such as the driver shortage at Arriva Trains Northern were allowed to drift until action could not be avoided, and there was no time to communicate with customers."

Arriva's commercial director, Dyan Crowther, said: "Dealing effectively and efficiently when things do not go according to plan is something which we want to improve upon.

"We pledged we would communicate better with our customers, and this is one of a number of initiatives we are taking forward."

Mr Milnes said: "Many stations served by Arriva are not manned, so it is important that public address systems give passengers correct and up-to-date information and not just the standard message of when a train is due.

"During disruptions, people were being told via a recorded message that a train was due when, in fact, it had been cancelled.

"Some smaller stations do not even have timetables, and that needs to be addressed."