FEEDBACK from passengers shows how two out of three county rail services are performing at the national average or below.

The annual National Rail Passenger Survey from the independent consumer organisation Passenger Focus was released yesterday.

CrossCountry and First Great Western hit the national average of 82 per cent satisfaction or below, while Chiltern Railways was high above the average.

CrossCountry scored 82, after 1,129 of its passengers were surveyed – down from 85 in autumn 2013 and 84 in spring 2013.

The survey was carried out between February and April when bad weather and flooding disrupted some services in the county.

A spokesman from CrossCountry said: “Despite this, 82 per cent of our customers were satisfied with the service they received.”

First Great Western scored 80 after 3,050 passengers had their say – maintaining its score from surveys in autumn and spring 2013.

A spokesman from First Great Western said: “We are pleased to have been able to maintain our score from last year during such a difficult period.”

It is based on feedback from 27,000 rail passengers across the UK who were asked to rate their last journey out of 100.

Chiltern Railways received a “satisfaction score” of 92 for spring 2014 after 1,146 passengers were surveyed, putting it top of rail service providers in Oxfordshire. The firm scored 89 in spring 2013 and 91 in autumn 2013.

Its managing director Rob Brighouse said: “It is very satisfying to be ranked top as it reflects the fact that we focus on what matters to our customers.”




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