Southern gets third lowest rating for overall satisfaction

7:00am Tuesday 5th February 2013

By Alice Foster

Rail passengers have given Southern the third lowest rating for overall satisfaction compared to other train companies nationwide.

Southern passengers were also some of the least satisfied with how punctual and reliable trains are and how well the train company dealt with delays.

Findings of a national survey released last week showed only 82 per cent of passengers were satisfied overall with Southern which scored just above First Capital Connect and Northern Rail.

Consumer watchdog Passenger Focus, which surveyed more than 30,000 people in autumn, found overall satisfaction for 22 train companies varied between 80 to 96 per cent.

In terms of punctuality and reliability of trains 77 per cent of passengers expressed satisfaction with Southern and Northern Rail, just above the level for London Midland which came bottom.

In the National Passenger Survey, Southern scored just 39 per cent for satisfaction with how the company dealt with delays.

Just 42 percent of Southern passengers believed they were getting value for money, which put the train company sixth from bottom.

A month after fieldwork for the survey finished Southern appointed a troubleshooter to arrest a sharp downturn in the punctuality and reliability of its trains.

David Scorey was made performance director after punctuality dropped by almost 10 per cent last year and reliability also went down.

At the time a spokesman said weather-related issues, railway infrastructure failure plus some areas they had direct control over affected daily punctuality.

Nationally the percentage of passengers satisfied with their journey overall was 85 per cent, up one per cent on the previous year.

Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: "Passengers are saying the quality of rail services is improving.

"The combination of increased income from fares, government investment and a clearer focus on performance and dealing with disruption is beginning to pay off.

"However, more work needs to be done. Satisfaction on individual routes still varies widely from 76 to 97 per cent."

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