Delays, disruptions and cancellations have become an all too familiar part of the daily grind for south-east Londoners, and now it's official - Southern and Southeastern trains have been jointly ranked as the UK’s worst rail services.

Passenger satisfaction dropped for both rail services since autumn 2015 in terms of both value for money and reliability of services, according to the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS).

The punctuality ratings for Southern and Southeastern were just 53% and 56% respectively in the poll of 29,000 passengers for the Transport Focus report.

The organisation’s chief executive, Anthony Smith, said: “Many passengers are feeling the strain.

“As passenger numbers rise and welcome investment is put in place some passengers are having a difficult time with delays and cancellations making journeys stressful.

“Simply getting on a train has become a struggle for some.”

Southeastern has blamed factors beyond their control such as Storm Imogen for disruptions to services and say that since the time of the survey, which took place between January and March, they have brought about improvements.

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David Statham, Managing Director of Southeastern, said: “The survey was undertaken during the winter months when severe weather and infrastructure issues meant we were not able to give our passengers the services we want to provide and that they rightfully expect.

“We have worked very closely with Network Rail to bring about a number of improvements since then.

“These include investing in more frontline employees and in track infrastructure in the areas where major disruption is most likely to occur.”

Southern’s passenger services director Alex Foulds said: “We are disappointed but not surprised with these results.

“The survey was carried out after a prolonged period of poor performance due to the constraints of London Bridge.

“Once through this challenging period we did start to see performance begin to improve, although this has now been overtaken by the recent industrial action.

Network Rail manages track, signals and other rail infrastructure for Southern and Southeastern.

Network Rail’s area director Steve Knight said: “Our job is to provide Southern with the best infrastructure possible so they can run a reliable service.

“We faced some challenges during the winter, both with the weather and our equipment, but by working closely with Southern I’m pleased to say our railway infrastructure has been improving.”

The NRPS ranks passengers’ overall satisfaction as well as their satisfaction levels for 33 specific aspects of service.