Poll confirms Southern’s status as UK's worst-performing rail firm
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Version 0 of 1. Southern’s status as Britain’s worst-performing train operator has been confirmed by the national rail passenger survey, which shows growing dissatisfaction across the country. According to research from the independent watchdog Transport Focus, 66% of Southern’s passengers were satisfied with their last journey, compared with an overall figure of 81% nationwide, down 2% from the previous year. While the satisfaction score appears relatively high, compared with the results of previous polls by consumer and commuter groups, the survey – conducted at stations last autumn – asks passengers to consider only the last journey they took. Transport Focus said it was unable to poll some Southern customers because trains were not running. The survey found that the experience of rush-hour Southern passengers was particularly poor. Only 30% said their last journey had been punctual, and only one in eight said the company had dealt well with delays. On Southern’s sister service, the Gatwick Express, just 12% of peak-time travellers believed their ticket was value for money. Nationally, 47% of passengers thought their rail ticket was value for money. Scotland’s rail service showed a decline in perceived punctuality and satisfaction, down 7% year-on-year at Scotrail, while regional train operators in England and Wales saw their ratings drop to 84% on average. But commuters across south-east England remain the most dissatisfied. After Southern, the next worst-performing train service was Thameslink, which is part of the same franchise operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, with 73% satisfaction. The other brands in the franchise, Great Northern and Gatwick Express, scored 78% and 82%. Neighbouring Southeastern, also run by Govia, scored just 77%, while another commuter network in the south-east, Greater Anglia, scored 79%. Hull Trains had the overall highest satisfaction score at 97%, followed by Heathrow Express and Merseyrail. Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said: “The results around the country are disappointing. Scottish passengers and those travelling in peak hours in London and the south-east are bearing the brunt of poor performance. “The timetable on parts of the London and south-east railway can be a work of fiction which passengers cannot rely on. As passenger numbers rise, parts of the rail network will remain brittle until welcome improvements are in place and working. “Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Network Rail must continue to collaborate to produce a more robust timetable. Passengers need a better balance between peak and off-peak services, reliability and capacity.” Rail companies said the survey showed four in five passengers were satisfied with their train journeys overall. Jacqueline Starr, of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: “We know we must do better. We’re sorry when customers don’t get the service they expect, including those affected by strikes. Everyone in the railway is working hard to make train journeys better from start to finish.” She said much of the disruption was caused by engineering work that would eventually deliver a better service. “After decades of underinvestment, and with passenger numbers soaring to 4.5 million a day on thousands more trains, the railway is full in many places,” Starr said. Andy McDonald, Labour’s transport spokesman, said the results “expose the failure of our privatised railways”. “It’s becoming more difficult for the government to justify allowing private and foreign state-owned companies to take money out of the system that should be used to improve services or hold fares down,” he said. The satisfaction results appear high in comparison with other polls. A survey published this month by the consumer group Which? found that only 21% of Southern customers were satisfied, down from 44% the previous year. An online poll of about 1,000 Southern passengers by the newly formed Association of British Commuters found less than 1% would be likely to recommend the train service. A Transport Focus spokeswoman said the long-running survey, which polls about 60,000 passengers annually and is classified as an official statistic by the government, remained valid, but said the organisation had started to conduct additional research to “gather other kinds of experience”. Most of Southern’s service was planned to be restored on Tuesday for the first time since early December, although 12 RMT drivers were officially on strike. Talks are continuing between Southern and Aslef, the main drivers’ union, which has called off a planned strike and ended an overtime ban in the protracted dispute over the role and responsibilities of crew. |