Passengers believe that Greater Anglia’s rail services improved in most areas during 2016 according to a new survey by official watchdog Passenger Focus.

The overall satisfaction of both the trains and stations run by Greater Anglia improved in the autumn survey carried out by the watchdog when compared to the spring survey and autumn 2015.

Nationally the survey showed a sharp decline in passenger satisfaction, but this reflects disputes on Southern Railway and in Scotland.

Punctuality and reliability of services was the factor showing the largest deterioration, down from 78% to 73%.

Public transport campaigners claimed the results show more emphasis should be given to short-term investment projects.

A total of 80% of Greater Anglia passengers were satisfied with their trains and 83% were satisfied with the station facilities. The overall rating for the company was 79% satisfaction.

Satisfaction levels for the upkeep and cleanliness of trains increased significantly in the Greater Anglia area – and passengers also expressed more satisfaction with the facilities at its stations.

Jamie Burles, Managing Director, Greater Anglia, said: “These survey results show that our focus on refurbishing trains, increasing the number of seats, improving cleanliness and revamping stations has increased customer satisfaction.

“They also show an overall improvement on the Spring 2016 results. However, they highlight that we need to do more work on how we deal with delays and to improve train performance. We are already tackling these issues head on. Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said the national results were disappointing : “Those travelling in peak hours in London and the South East are bearing the brunt of poor performance.

“The timetable on parts of the London and South East’s railway can be a work of fiction which passengers cannot rely on. As passenger numbers rise, parts of the rail network will remain brittle until welcome improvements are in place and working.”

Jacqueline Starr from the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators said: “Everyone in the railway is working hard to make train journeys better from start to finish.”