Region's rail users among least satisfied in the country

Survey says commuters are not happy with service

RAIL users in the region are among the least satisfied in the country according to a new survey.

In the survey, conducted by consumer group Which?, Southeastern was voted the joint worst-performing operator alongside Thameslink and Great Northern.

Great Western Railway (GWR), which was previously known as First Great Western before its rebranding, was in the bottom six in the list of 22 national operators with a satisfaction score of 50 per cent.

Overcrowding, poor value for money and dirty trains were among the issues raised by a poll of almost 7,000 people, while punctuality, train frequency and availability of seating also scored lowly.

Passenger estimates from the Office of Rail and Road show that the number of people using Newbury station has rocketed from 967,362 in 1997/98 to 1,745,710 in 2014/15.

More than 3.5m people travelled on the Kennet Valley line between Bedwyn and Theale last year, almost double the 1.9m in 1998.

Hugh Jaegar, a former train driver and independent rail commentator for the Thames Valley, said: “What passengers want most is what they have been demanding, and consistently denied, for decades.

“Most of all they want trains with enough carriages to give everyone a seat, and more reliability and punctuality.

“They are far less concerned about stations, but they want more stations to have toilets, and users of unstaffed stations want staff to be reintroduced.

“Thatcham station has more than half a million passengers a year, Theale nearly half a million, and Hungerford nearly 350,000, but none has a toilet for passengers.”

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Our report shows that commuters are getting a raw deal from their train operator... it is clear operators need to up their game.”

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “The survey clearly shows how unhappy commuters are with paying a high price for their ticket while getting what is sometimes a poor service.

“It is high time the government and train operators sorted out this mess.”

Just three weeks ago, GWR scored a 10-year high of 84 per cent in a survey of 28,000 by independent transport user watchdog Transport Focus.

A spokesman for GWR, James Davis, said: “Our recent National Rail Passenger Survey report, scores us at 84 per cent and a statistically significant three per cent rise on the last wave.

“This score, the highest GWR has achieved in 10 years of operating the Great Western, clearly shows our commitment to ‘building a greater West’ and delivering the improvements we know our customers want to see.

“We welcome the impact made by the conversion of some first class carriages, providing vital extra capacity, and Network Rail’s work in the last six months to drive down infrastructure related delays.

“We are only too aware of how important it is to maintain good punctuality and we are doing everything we can to help NR continue this good work.

“We are keen to work with Which? to gain a better understanding of their methodology, and it is good to see that in their own survey we have seen a five per cent improvement in overall score in the last two years.”