Greater Anglia on right track for improvement
The new Greater Anglia Stadler train passes a Turbostar diesel unit - one of the units it will replace as it enters service Picture: GREATER ANGLIA - Credit: Archant
More customers are satisfied with Greater Anglia trains - but the company remains in the bottom four nationally, an influential survey has found.
Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles Picture: GREATER ANGLIA - Credit: Archant
In the latest National Rail Passenger Survey, 80% of Greater Anglia customers said they were happy with their experience.
Greater Anglia welcomed the findings, saying it was a jump of four points compared to last spring and seven points better than when the survey was last conducted in the autumn.
Stansted Express, which is managed by Greater Anglia, saw satisfaction levels of 91 per cent.
Despite the improvement, Greater Anglia is still in the bottom four performing companies.
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The lowest ratings for overall satisfaction were given to Great Northern (77%), South Western Railway (78%), Northern (78%), Greater Anglia (80%) and Southeastern (80%).
But Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles said: "We have been working very hard to improve every aspect of our service for our customers - from punctuality, reliability and availability of seats to planning their journey, buying their ticket and their experience on board our trains.
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"It's excellent to see that our customers have noticed improvements in all of these areas.
"However, we are not complacent, there is room for further improvement and we are determined to continue to improve our service for our customers."
Derek Monnery, chairman of the Essex Rail Users' Federation, said the Greater Anglia figure was a step in the right direction for the company but progress was still slow.
"There is new rolling stock coming through and the trains are more reliable than they were but there is still a long way to go because of infrastructure issues, not all of them down to Greater Anglia," he said.
"But Greater Anglia is doing what it needs to do in terms of bringing new trains into service.
"Once everything is in service that will see a step-change and do much to improve the passenger experience even more."
However a spokesman from Anglia Rail User Group (ARUG) said the results underlined the problems and unsatisfactory service its members had to contend with on Greater Anglia on a daily basis.
"It is shocking the company continues to increase prices above the rate of inflation while failing to deliver an improvement in services," he said.
"No doubt the company will again try and deflect these findings with the promise of new trains, but the statistics show the continued failure of the company's management to address even the basic problems."
The full report can be found here.
