Only 47% of passengers think trains are value for money

RIP-OFF fares, filthy toilets and overcrowded trains are among the biggest bugbears of rail passengers, a survey found.

Consumer watchdog Transport Focus has found that less than half of passengers (47 per cent) believe they are receiving value for money.

Passengers in the South East were the most unhappy. Only 38 per cent who use Southern – which has been plagued by strikes and disruption for more than a year – as well as Southeastern and Thameslink believe they are getting a good deal.

With an annual season ticket on Southern from Haywards Heath in West Sussex to London costing £4,93 , perhaps this is not surprising.

According to the study, 39 per cent of rail passengers are unhappy with the toilet facilities on trains, while 27 per cent believe their rail company deals poorly with delays and

1 per cent said they were unhappy with overcrowded trains. The survey, carried out in the spring, involved more than 27,000 passengers.

Southern rail was voted the worst service in the UK, with 72 per cent satisfied.

Its parent group, Govia, runs all four of the services rated worst by passengers.

The others are Thameslink, which had a satisfaction rating of 75 per cent, Great Northern (79 per cent) and Southeastern (81 per cent).

But despite this, passengers believe Britain’s railways are not as bad as they used to be.

In fact, overall satisfaction levels have hit the highest level since autumn 2012. The overall satisfaction rate rose from 80 per cent in spring last year to 83 per cent in spring this year.

Transport Focus said passengers may be seeing the ‘fragile green shoots of recovery’.

‘Fragile green shoots of recovery’