Rail companies 'fail to improve'

The survey found no increase in customer satisfaction

Two train firms serving East Anglia have failed to show improvements in a customer satisfaction survey.

National Express East Anglia operating services between London, Norfolk, Essex and Suffolk scored 76% for the second time in a National Passenger Survey.

First Capital Connect which runs trains between King's Lynn and London through Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire also scored 76% - a fall of 1% on last year.

Rail watchdog Passenger Focus said most other firms had managed to get better.

'Positive progress'

Andrew Chivers, managing director at National Express East Anglia, said: "Recent encouraging trends on train service performance include punctuality of 94.3% in May 2009.

"This was the best four-weekly punctuality achieved since the franchise began in 2004 and demonstrates that positive progress is being made.

"We have also commenced a wide-ranging consultation with our customers on our plans to introduce 188 new and refurbished carriages, providing longer trains and more seats at peak times.

"We recognise, however, there is still more work to be done in improving customer satisfaction."

Karen Boswell, customer services director at First Capital Connect, said: "We recognise that train performance and capacity are the biggest drivers in our scores and we are addressing these factors.

"We are confident the changes and improvements to our routes will help drive our scores in the future."