Government ministers have launched a formal review into South Western Railway's operation following a spate of poor performance.

Transport Minister Chris Grayling said in Parliament that he was “very disappointed” with the performance of South Western Railway over recent months and was aware local MPs had been frustrated by the issues passengers have experienced.

It comes after the rail operators latest Customer Report Summary - covering the seven month period since it took over the franchise from South West Trains in August 2017 has revealed that just 83.2 per cent of trains met Network Rail’s public performance measure.

The measure consists of trains arriving at their terminating station within five minutes for commuter services and within 10 minutes for long distance services.

Alongside this, the report also noted that during the same period, the percentage of cancellations and significant lateness increased from 3.8 per cent in April, May and June 2017 to 4.8 per cent in July, August and September after SWR took over the franchise.

The rail firms punctuality was also reflected in statistics from the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) in passenger complaints which in Q3 of 2017-18 showing that of the complaints made about SWR in Q3, 39.3 per cent were related to punctuality.

Mr Grayling, added: "Whilst it is important to recognise that a significant proportion of the delays on SWR routes are attributed to Network Rail and that we have seen some good progress in performance in recent weeks, overall performance has simply not been good enough and I am determined that we see a long-term, sustained performance improvement across this route.

“That is why I have commissioned an independent review of SWR and National Rail, to ensure all possible steps are being taken to improve performance and the passenger experience."

But, Jeremy Varns, coordinator of rail campaign group SWR Watch stressed that the government should do more.

He said: "The downward trend in the performance of both Network Rail and the franchise have accelerated since the takeover last August.

"Until the government starts viewing rail as a crucial part of our infrastructure which gives much more back long-term than it takes both from an economic and environmental perspective, the burden on rail users will continue to increase."

The review, set to be launched next month will be independently chaired by Sir Michael Holden, who has over 40 years’ experience in railway operations and will be completed in summer 2018.