A RAIL campaign group has questioned whether a true picture has been given after a survey revealed South Western Railway passengers' overall satisfaction was ranked in 10th place out of a total of 22 rail providers.

The survey, conducted by Transport Focus, revealed an overall satisfaction of 88%, satisfaction with punctuality/reliability was 85% and satisfaction with level of overcrowding came in at 73%.

Transport Focus surveyed a total of 5,086 passengers across Britain between October 27 and January 30 - 424 of those filled in the online survey for Weymouth-Waterloo operator South Western Railway (SWR).

Railfuture, an independent organisation that represents rail users and is run by volunteers, dispute the findings in the passenger survey due to timing and the impacts Covid has had on travelling.

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A spokesperson for Railfuture Wessex said: “Passenger numbers have been well below normal during the winter months, and we question whether the satisfaction survey gives a true picture when so many have been put off travelling.

“It will be interesting to see how the railway copes during the busier summer period, when a lot more people will be making the choice to go by rail, and expectations of comfort and reliability will be somewhat higher.

“We fear that some may experience longer journey times and perhaps overcrowding unless the service is restored to something nearer pre-Covid levels.”

However, SWR shared its delight over the survey results.

A spokesman said: “We’re pleased that a high number of our customers are satisfied with the service they receive from South Western Railway, especially during such a difficult period for the industry.

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“We are keenly focused on building on this progress, so that we can offer our customers an even better experience.

“Alongside a whole host of network improvements, we’re working apace to introduce a new fleet of trains on our suburban routes, with more capacity, quicker journey times and more reliability for customers.”

The company has this week reintroduced its regular timetable after operating a temporary timetable from mid January due to the effects of the Omicron variant which saw high numbers of staff isolating. It meant Weymouth lost its direct services to London with passengers having to change at Bournemouth.

Rail services have been hit by storms over the last few days which brought trees down across the network - passengers were urged not to travel on the SWR network on Monday.

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