Now British rail inquiries also move to India

Thursday, 16 October 2003, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: Britons Wednesday woke up to front-page news that they would soon need to speak to Bangalore for train timings or rail connections in Britain. Rail inquiries are the latest in the growing list of British outsourcing to India that is intended to save up to 10 million pounds. The move is likely to cause further hand wringing among call centre workers and unions in Britain. According to documents leaked to the Guardian, train operators intend to educate Indian call centre workers in the eccentricities of Britain's railways. The move was the top story in the respected newspaper. The move could put 1,700 jobs at risk at the existing call centres in Cardiff, Derby, Newcastle and Plymouth. The Indian staff will need to cope with queries about anything from the availability of smoking carriages on South West Trains to disabled access on the Fort William sleeper as well as weekend engineering works on the Settle-Carlisle line. 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. The Guardian quoted an internal memo to the board of the Association of Train Operating Companies that 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, and quoted him as saying: "In two operations the agents had virtually no Indian accent." His memo requests approval to set up a pilot operation in Bangalore, saying the "business case is strong" but warns: "There may well be trade union agitation and negative media coverage regarding jobs." It warns that "short-term ridicule and cynicism" was likely to be a problem, adding: "We should consider this in the context of a significant proportion of calls going offshore, rather than just for the pilot." Under the terms of their franchises, train operators are required to fund a national enquiries service which provides not only train times but information about fares, accessibility, cycle conveyance, refunds, season tickets and booking hotlines. They receive public subsidies from the Strategic Rail Authority to fulfil their commitments. The Guardian quoted an "insider", anonymously, as saying: "They get 10 million pounds and UK plc gets 1,500 people on the dole. It's bad enough that it happens but to use taxpayers' money to achieve it is outrageous." BT has a contract to answer many of the calls to the inquiries line, although the service is being re-tendered. BT is pressing for the move offshore, citing research suggesting that the public do not mind where their calls are answered. The research, seen by the Guardian, found that callers were unconcerned by overseas accents as long as they were easy to understand. It adds: "Racial stereotypes play a stronger role in the 35-55 age range but predominantly do not cause a barrier." The report, however, said a risk assessment drawn up alongside the proposal warned of a number of potential hazards such as a nuclear war between India and Pakistan -- thought "very unlikely" -- a major power failure or technical breakdown. The first call centre to see its work moved to India is likely to be Newcastle. A comparison of the four existing British locations, drawn up by consultants CM Insight, found that Tyneside was the least attractive with high staff turnover and an overheated labour market. Scoggins's memo says there need not be any redundancies because all the existing call centres were expecting work from other sources to replace rail inquiries. The report said critics voiced concern that overseas staff would struggle to cope with the complexity of inquiries about Britain's labyrinthine railways. Caroline Jones, of the Rail Passengers Council, said: "Our main concern would be a lack of knowledge about the rail network in Britain. If you call up asking about trains from Peterborough to King's Cross, there's no way they're going to know every stop en route." The union Amicus, which includes many call centre workers, said it was a myth that jobs could be exported without loss of quality. It cited research from consumer analysts Performance House, which found that 79 per cent of people believed companies should inform them when they were dealing with an offshore facility. Said Amicus's national secretary David Fleming: "We think there will be little confidence among the public in getting adequate train information in the UK from anywhere else in the world." In a statement, Atoc said it was evaluating bids from new suppliers for the inquiries service and would announce the results by the end of the year.
Source: IANS
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