CrossCountry ranked Britain's worst train operator

Train operator CrossCountry has been told to raise its performance, after receiving the worst score in a passenger survey.

In three months to the end of March, 72% of Birmingham-based CrossCountry's stops at stations were made within three minutes of the schedule, while 7% of services were cancelled, said Transport Focus.

The watchdog added that of those surveyed, 79% were satisfied with the Arriva Group-owned operator, 77% reported being satisfied with their journey's punctuality and reliability, and 46% said they were satisfied with how the company dealt with delays.

The operator said despite slight improvements in some areas, it knew it "must do more to deliver the service our customers rightly deserve".

Transport Focus has asked CrossCountry to improve the passenger experience, reduce delays, provide better information during disruption and cut overcrowding on services.

Hull Trains achieved the best overall satisfaction score at 94%, followed by LNER with 93%.

87% of passengers overall said they were satisfied with their journey and disabled passengers reported lower satisfaction than non-disabled passengers, at 85%.

More than 100,000 passengers were questioned in the six months to the end of March.

CrossCountry, the Arriva Group-owned operator, runs long-distance trains serving cities such as Cambridge, Cardiff and Manchester.

Mark Anderson, CrossCountry's customer and commercial director, said that looking forward, its refurbished trains were "transforming" journeys and its new timetable was "delivering better regional connectivity across the country".

"We're always working to improve onboard experience – from cleaning to catering, better wi-fi and clearer information during disruption.

"In particular, we know that crowding is a challenge and we're working with industry partners to explore all possible options to ease this."

Transport Focus chief executive Alex Robertson said: "This is the first report of its kind.

"I'm optimistic the railway understands the importance of using it to create a more customer focused culture and we'll be holding them to account to make sure they do."

The chief executive also stated more than nine in 10 people would report a positive experience if a delay was "handled well – a remarkably high figure given their train is late – but this falls to one in four when it isn't".