National Passenger Satisfaction response

Transport Focus has published its autumn 2015 National Rail Passenger Survey results for passenger satisfaction.

Satisfaction on Thameslink remained the same at 73%; on Great Northern it rose by 2% to 84%.

A spokesperson for Thameslink said: “We know punctuality was particularly poor at the time of this survey, making life difficult for our passengers. Many of those delays were outside our control such as lorries hitting one particular low railway bridge in Tulse Hill (above) no less than seven times, causing 125 cancellations and delaying trains by over 3,500 minutes.

“But we will redouble our efforts with Network Rail to improve punctuality, with Network Rail making track, signalling and other systems more dependable and GTR bringing in new, more reliable trains this spring and still more drivers.

“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. However, when this work is finished, our services will be transformed for passengers with greater connectivity and more capacity to, from and through the heart of London.”

A separate news release has been issued for Great Northern.

Any passengers who have been delayed by 30 minutes or more can apply for compensation.