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Wednesday 27 Jan 2016

Passenger satisfaction jumps after Reading station revamp

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

| Southern

Passengers using Reading station are now happier with their experience than they were a year ago, according to the National Passenger Survey.

The survey, carried out by independent watchdog Transport Focus, asked more than 28,000 passengers nationally for their views on the railway during autumn 2015.

Reading station received a score of 93 percent customer satisfaction, an increase of five percent compared with autumn 2014. This follows a £895m project to upgrade the station and its surrounding area, including a new station building, new tracks and a new signalling system, to improve passengers’ travelling experience.

Mark Langman, Network Rail’s managing director for the Western route, said: “The improvements we made at Reading were extensive and were designed to provide passengers with greater reliability, fewer delays and faster, smoother journeys into and through the station area.

“It’s really good to hear that passengers are increasingly enjoying the experience of travelling to the station. My team and I are very pleased that the hard work has paid off and the travelling public are reaping the benefits of all the investment.”

In addition to the orange army’s work at Reading, London Paddington station is also undergoing a refurbishment as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan. Once completed, this improvement work will improve the appearance of the station as a whole and provide growing numbers of passengers with a wider range of places to eat, drink and shop.

Mark continued: “Customer satisfaction levels for Paddington station have dipped since last year but we’re confident that our investment will have a positive impact once it’s finished.

“I would ask passengers to please bear with us while we complete this important and much needed improvement work. The end result will make their station a more pleasant place and provide passengers with a greater range of facilities.”

Nationally, the survey shows that a slight increase in overall rail passenger satisfaction to 83 per cent across the country has started to reverse previous declines. However, the overall score for commuter satisfaction was 76 per cent, compared to 85 per cent for business and 90 per cent for leisure travellers.

The full results of the survey can be found here.

ENDS