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Dave
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The IVR (menu) on National Rail Enquiries' 0845 748 4950 number has recently changed. It used to offer two options: Train Tracker or speak to an agent.
The structure is now:
1. Train Tracker
2. Recorded information on how services are affected - gives recorded operating bulletins for all TOCs (same as 0845 301 7641)
3. Hold to speak to an advisor:
1. Travelling today and need times and fares information or need train company or station information
2. To check how your train is running
3. Travelling on another day, or require season ticket information
4. All other enquiries, including customer feedback
Option 3 followed by either option 1, 2, 3 or 4 all gets through to speak to an agent. There is presently bad snow and on selecting 3 followed by 1, 2, 3, or 4 it goes through to the hold music. A second or too in to the music, a message cuts in about high demand.
All four of these sub-options are interupted by the same message, and there is only one alternative in the 020 7068 0500 to 0526 range which matches this and it is 0519. I have therefore listed it as the main alternative.
Others like 0500, 0503, 0504, 0507 go to the hold music but aren't interupted by the message. This suggests that the 0845 number channels all calls to 020 7068 0519, and they are perhaps distributed between the other numbers from there. At certain times, some of these numbers seem to have longer waits than others.
What this does suggest is that the four sub-options go through to the same place, and the four second level options are probably put there more for statistical purposes; that is, they allow NRE to see what types of enquiries people are calling and requesting to speak to live agents about. Clearly the aim is to automate as many enquiries as possible, and knowing if people are speaking to agents when they could be listening to recordings is going to be useful to NRE.
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