Critics have slammed Southeastern after the company's yearly accounts revealed a £20million profit, despite the train operator's poor ranking in customer satisfaction.
That figure is an increase of just over £10million on the previous financial year, according to records filed just days before Christmas.
But despite the jump in revenue, Southeastern ranked second to last train company in London in the Which? 2015 consumer satisfaction guide.
In the most recent data published by Network Rail in December, Southeastern's public performance measure (PPM) decreased by three per cent to 80.9 per cent for the same period in 2014.
By combining figures for punctuality and reliability into a single percentage, the PPM is used as the rail industry's standard measurement of performance.
In comparison the London Overground was one of best performing train operators in the country with 92.6 per cent, behind industry leader c2c Rail.
Adam Thomas - Conservative London Assembly candidate for Lewisham and Greenwich - is one of many calling for the franchise to be handed over to Transport for London (TfL) when it comes up for tender in 2018.
London Assembly candidate Adam Thomas at Lee station in Lewisham.
He called the train operator's profits "shocking" in the face of its performance record.
The Blackheath resident told News Shopper: "This is yet another nail in the coffin for Southeastern Trains, showing that they are simply not up to the job of running an effective service for residents who rely on it every single day. "The fact that it is making such large profits while being unable to provide an effective service is shocking.
"Like the vast majority of residents, I rely on the service every day to get me to and from work and we deserve something much better."
In December rail minister Claire Perry pledged to sit down with local MPs in the new year to review Southeastern's performance.
She also warned that the rail company could face fines of up to £4million if it fails to meet targets for stations, train services and customer services.
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Responding to the critics, a spokeswoman for Southeastern said three pence in every pound spent on a ticket on average is profit – a three per cent margin.
She said: "As an outline the other 97p is roughly split between 17p on staffing costs; 17p on a combination of train maintenance, interest charges, office leasing costs, contributions towards the British Transport Police and utility bills; 11p on rolling stock leasing companies to use their trains; 4p on power supply for the track; and 48p on paying for access of and use the rail track.
"We are also committed to investing in the services we offer. On weekday’s alone we run 1,922 trains.
"We operate 166 stations and employ more than 4,000 people across our network, as well as support a number of community led projects in the areas we work.
"By 2017 we will have spent more than £70 million on improving our stations and trains.
"This includes refurbishing one third of our entire fleet, deep cleaning all our trains, starting an 18 month scheme to carry out maintenance and repaint more than 160 of our stations, putting more information screens on platforms for customers and providing 100 more frontline staff to help passengers."
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