A TRAIN COMPANY which runs rail services from Chelmsford to London has been named as one of the worst operators in the country, by consumer magazine Which.

Abellio Greater Anglia was named joint 15th out of 17 with a 46 per cent customer satisfaction rating.

The ratings were taking from an overall sample of 7,309 commuters, who were asked to rate the train line they use for availability of seating, cleanliness of toilets, condition of trains, punctuality, reliability and value for money.

The results come as no surprise to Greater Anglia commuters, who regularly complain about old trains, delays, cancellations, and higher ticket prices than c2c.

Writing online a commuter under the name Everhard’s Daughter said: “I've used both Greater Anglia (Chelmsford & Harlow) and c2c, and the second company are leaps ahead of the first when it comes to reliability, punctuality, cleaniness and comfort of train stock.”

Peter Radford, 71, of Chelmsford, is a member of the Chelmsford commuters and rail travellers group.

He said: “It’s very unsatisfactory that passenger satisfaction is so low.

“It’s disappointing but not surprising because although some problems are out of their control there are issues like trains turning round during journeys and people are stranded – I think that unless trains can’t physically get to their destination they should finish their journey.

“Lots of services run late or are cancelled for whatever reason.

“The line through Chelmsford is suffering as the structure is aged.”

The Department of Transport has now begun the search for the next franchise operator as Abellio Greater Anglia’s contract runs out in October 2016.

Mr Radford hopes that there will be improvements if their contract is extended.

He said: “They really ought to try to get back to the service we had during the Olympics.

“In terms of value for money it comes down to the fact that the fares are going up but we haven’t really seen much investment.

“I think people would be a little more accepting of the high fares if we saw some return on it.

“I would hope that they would manage to improve if they win the franchise but it comes down to if there’s enough investment in the franchise.

But Mr Radford also pointed out that the issues he described are sometimes out of Abellio Greater Anglia’s control.

A Greater Anglia spokesman pointed out it had improved on its rating last year, when it came last, and was investing £30million to improve its service.

She said: “We recognise there is much more to do to improve customer satisfaction and our commitment to invest in improving services in addition to the investment that Network Rail is making in infrastructure upgrades, demonstrates our commitment to do all we can to improve services for rail passengers across our network.

“More correspondents in the 2014 Which? survey were satisfied with their journey than the previous year, however this survey is based on a much smaller sample of Abellio Greater Anglia customers, with 389 surveyed compared to the 2,164 who participated in the recent National Passenger Survey where 80 per cent of our customers told Passenger Focus they were satisfied.”