Just a fifth of commuters have rated their train service as better than a year ago in a downbeat passenger survey carried out by consumer group Which?

In spite of roughly £925m being spent on the railway last year and fares rising by an average of 3.4pc at the start of 2018, only 20pc said they had noticed an improvement.

To make matters worse, 13pc of commuters thought their service had got worse in the past year and the remaining two thirds majority (67pc) thought there has been no change.

The three bottom-ranked train companies in the survey are all run by the Govia joint venture between Go-Ahead and Keolis. Strike-hit Southern rail scored just 28pc for customer satisfaction, with South Eastern and Thameslink & Great Northern both only just ahead on 39pc.

What was worse for Southern was that 37pc of its commuters thought the service had got worse in the past year, something the company will be hoping to rectify in 2018 once major infrastructure works on the railway around London Bridge is complete.

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Grand Central, an open access operator which runs services out of London King’s Cross to Sunderland and Bradford, scored the highest marks with 64pc and four stars in each of the categories, such as availability of seats and punctuality.

Translink NI was in second place (62pc) and Virgin Trains West Coast (61pc) and Chiltern Railways (61pc) placed joint third having both received four stars for the reliability and frequency of their services.

Beyond the quality of service, Which? also looked at the compensation process. A quarter of commuters complained the process was difficult, while just 37pc of those eligible to claim compensation do.

Alex Hayman, from Which?, said: “Fares are going up but frustrated and long suffering passengers affected by seemingly never ending delays, cancellations and dirty trains don’t feel that their services are getting any better.

“The problems don’t stop there. People are also finding it difficult to claim compensation when things go wrong. Automatic compensation must be introduced across the industry so that people can get the money they are owed.”

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies, and Network Rail, said a recent survey by passenger watchdog Transport Focus had shown 83pc of customers were satisfied with their journey.

“But rail companies continue to work together with a long-term plan to change and improve services further,” it said.

“The partnership railway of the public and private sectors is doing more to improve journeys, better connect communities and boost the economy."