GREATER Anglia has questioned the credentials of a passenger survey after being ranked the second-worst rail operator in the country.

Greater Anglia scored just 42% – based on 342 responses – in a customer satisfaction survey carried out by consumer magazine Which?.

The train operator was also last place in a commuter survey in the same report, in which it attained a score of 36% following 107 responses.

Which? said the respondents, surveyed in November 2012, had travelled 37 times by rail in the previous year on average.

However, Greater Anglia criticised the sample sizes and cited the official National Passenger Survey (NPS), published last month, which showed 83% of 2,120 travellers were satisfied with the rail service in the final months of 2012.

But Greater Anglia still ranked as the joint fourth-worst service out of the 23 national rail companies compiled in the official rail watchdog report.

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: “The sample size in the Which? survey is extremely small in comparison with the recent National Passenger Survey which recorded an excellent improvement in customer satisfaction for Greater Anglia to 83% in the Autumn 2012 survey, compared to 73% in Spring 2012.

“This was the highest level of improvement achieved in customer satisfaction by any train operator amongst those surveyed.

“At Greater Anglia, we continue to welcome all customer feedback as part of the efforts we are making to improve and invest in our train services since taking over the franchise in February last year.”