London Midland is in the bottom third of UK train companies for customer satisfaction, according to an annual survey by consumer champions Which? magazine.
The franchise ranked 14th out of 19th in the survey with an overall score of 45 per cent, out of a sample size of 431 customers.
The poll was topped by Virgin Rail with a 67 per cent approval rating, just months after it nearly lost the West Coast Main Line franchise.
Bottom of the table was First Capital Connect, with only 40 per cent of its passengers satisfied with its service.
The survey, compiled from responses from 7,500 regular train users, also found only 22 per cent of travellers felt their service was improving, despite above-inflation fare rises last month.
And it also revealed that 40 per cent of train travellers are likely to reduce the number of journeys they make as a result of the recent price increases, which saw season tickets rise by an average of 4.2 per cent.
But a third of commuters said they did not have an alternative way of getting to work and would just have to pay more.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “With 1.5 billion train journeys made every year and eight rail franchises up for grabs in the next two years, customer service should be top of the agenda for every train operating company. It is good to see some are performing well on service, but customers clearly feel others need to do better.”
A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: “The watchdog Passenger Focus surveys up to eight times as many people a year and last month reported 85 per cent of passengers are satisfied with their service – a record high.”
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