Trains Causing You Pain? Half Of Commuters Say It’s Causing Them Stress

Services were scored on factors such as punctuality, reliability, standing room, toilet facilities, customer score, frequency of trains, customer service, value for money, availability of seats and condition of carriages.

Northern and Thameslink both ranked in the bottom three for customer satisfaction, alongside Southern Rail.

Smaller companies serving fewer passengers scored highest in the survey, with Island Line Trains’ commuters giving it the top customer score of 68%.

People travelling for leisure scored the services marginally better than those commuting, with Merseyrail achieving the top score of 72%. Northern received the lowest score from leisure passengers, alongside Southern Railway.

Distrust of the rail industry continues to climb among passengers, according to Which?’s consumer insight tracker. It now stands at 32%, which is 5% higher than a year ago. “Only secondhand car dealers are more distrusted by consumers,” Which said.

The findings reinforce why passengers’ views must be centre of the government’s rail review – in a sector where punctuality has fallen to its lowest level for 17 years.

[Read More: There’s a reason you can never get signal on the train]

In response to the findings, a spokesperson for Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern rail franchise, told HuffPost UK that passengers are now “benefiting from improved services”.

“Punctuality and reliability are back on track on Thameslink and Great Northern after last May’s timetable change – and Southern services, which were unaffected, are 15% more punctual than a year ago,” the spokesperson said. “We are now running 400 more services every day than we were a year ago with space for 50,000 more commuters to and from London.”

In May 2019, more trains will be added to the timetable, and Great Northern is about to replace Britain’s oldest electric trains with a brand new air-conditioned carriages. “Passengers affected by the May timetable have been paid £17million in compensation and we have set aside a £15 million fund dedicated to making improvements customers tell us they want,” the spokesperson added. 

HuffPost UK has contacted Northern railway for comment and will update this piece accordingly.