Southern Rail scores in National Passenger Survey

The survey, published every six months by rail watchdog Passenger Focus, shows Southern's overall satisfaction rating comes in at 82 per cent '“ equal to the London and South East regional average score.

Over 26,000 passengers are surveyed for each wave of the National Passenger Survey. Two waves (spring and autumn) are conducted each year. The survey provides a network-wide picture of passengers' satisfaction with rail travel. Passenger opinions of train services are collected twice a year from a representative sample of passenger journeys.

Of the 31 individual train and station categories, Southern achieved improved scores in 20, with seven remaining the same as autumn 2008.

The scores also reflect that the summer of 2009 saw record train punctuality figures for Southern, and at the time the survey was carried out, punctuality was running at around 92%, with customer complaints down by over 12%.

Southern's managing director, Chris Burchell said: "These results show that the hard work put in by every Southern member of staff over the past year, and the recent investment we have made across our business is paying dividends for our passengers who have recognised that many things have improved over the last year."

"Southern's efforts to increase capacity on its services were also recognised with passengers scoring 'Sufficient room for passengers to sit/stand' 6% more than last year.

"In the 'Provision of information during the journey' category, Southern's passengers scored a full 10% above last year.

Southern has also achieved its best scores in 14 of the 31 categories since autumn 2005, many of which are extremely important to our passengers."

Commenting on the nationwide results Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said:

"The recent snow and industrial action, as well as the NPS results, tell us the industry has a long way to go when it comes to managing disruption.

"Trains arriving on time is a top priority for passengers '“ the industry should work on trains arriving at each station according to the timetable, not just at the final destination. And, we would like the industry to look at how it records punctuality. On time should mean just that, not within the five or 10 minutes leeway currently accepted."

Chris Burchell added:

"Although we are very pleased with the results, we do recognise that there are some areas where there is still work to be done and we have already begun initiatives in some of these areas. There are also plans in place which will improve facilities for these and most other categories."

For further information visit the websites: www.southernrailway.com or www.passengerfocus.org.uk