Rail passenger satisfaction at lowest in South East

Thameslink had the lowest proportion of satisfied passengers

The headline makes positive reading - satisfaction in Britain has risen for the first time since 2012, according to the annual rail passenger survey.

That's likely to come as a surprise to commuters from across the South East.

Despite paying some of the highest season ticket fares in the country they've suffered months of endless delays and cancellations - many due to the ongoing upgrading work at London Bridge but others due to a lack of drivers, graffiti on the trains and even the low winter sunshine.

And once you read beyond the headline you see that the operators with the three lowest ratings are all in the South East.

Thameslink had the lowest proportion of satisfied passengers at 73%, followed by Southeastern (75%) and Southern (78%).

Overcrowding at the barriers at London Bridge station was a common sight in 2015

'Service a joke'

In fact the problems have been so bad that the region's MPs have repeatedly raised the issue in parliament in recent months.

At the start of January - just after commuters saw the price of their annual season ticket increase again - MPs branded Southern's service "a joke" and said it is quicker to fly to space than travel to the coast.

The Mid Sussex MP, Sir Nicholas Soames, asked under what circumstances the Southern franchise could be withdrawn.

And it's no easier for commuters using Southeastern. In fact there is currently an online petition with around 15,500 signatures calling for it to lose its franchise.

Commuters in the South East pay some of the highest season ticket fares in the country

Rail bosses met a group of 20 MPs last week - at a meeting chaired by the rail minister Claire Perry to discuss the problems.

Just days later the Faversham and Mid-Kent MP Helen Whately also met the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, to raise her concerns. She said in a recent 100-day period the Recenttraintimes website showed the 7.04am commuter service from Faversham to St Pancras arrived on time for only 4% of journeys.

Shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood said: "It's outrageous that the train operator is reporting rising profits and awarding huge bonuses while services are deteriorating."

'Delays outside control'

In response to today's survey, a spokesman for Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express said: "We know punctuality was particularly poor at the time of this survey, making life difficult for our passengers."

But they also said that many of those delays were outside their control.

"Increased passenger demand and essential improvement work at London Bridge has made any problems that do occur on the Brighton main line and Thameslink route up to four times more difficult to recover from, as there is simply less room for the huge number of trains we run every day," the spokesman added.

They're promising that when the work is finished their services will be transformed with greater connectivity and more capacity to, from and through the heart of London.

That can't come soon enough for commuters who have no option but to take the train and believe only a change of franchise will get the services back on track.