PASSENGER satisfaction with Scotland’s rail services has plummeted to its worst level since 2002, it has emerged.

The proportion of customers contented with ScotRail’s service slumped by seven percentage points to 83 per cent compared with the previous autumn’s figures and 87 per cent in spring 2016, a survey by Transport Focus has found.

Campaign group Passenger Focus said the National Rail Passenger Satisfaction survey showed ScotRail’s service had “significantly declined”.

The operator has responded by claiming overall customer satisfaction has remained above the national average and that the survey was conducted while Scotland’s railway undergoes “an unprecedented period of change”.

The equivalent figure for the UK as a whole was 81 per cent.

The report comes just days after ScotRail’s managing director Phil Verster announced he was to quit and a fortnight after new figures showed it had improved overall punctuality.

It also comes Scottish Government ministers ordered an improvement plan due to poor punctuality and growing claims of passenger disquiet.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “These are disappointing results and a departure from ScotRail’s previous good performance. “Increased passenger numbers are putting extra pressure on the rail network both in its day-to-day operation and during rebuilding.”

“Meanwhile, ScotRail Alliance’s performance improvement plan needs to deliver better outcomes for passengers: trains arriving on time, fewer cancellations and carriages of the right length.”

Outgoing MD Phil Verster said everyone working on Scotland’s railway would be “disappointed by these results”.

“We always want our customer satisfaction to be going up,” he said.

And he added: “The decision to invest in the railway’s future has been put off too many times and it is in the best long term interests of passengers that we get on and do it."

The Transport Focus survey was conducted between September and November 2016, which ScotRail said was the first survey to be carried out following the five month closure of the upper platforms at Queen Street Station and last summer’s RMT dispute.

There were also several large scale one-off events during this period, included the major incident at Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh that caused widespread disruption.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Humza Yousaf has said the rail operator is still under performing but is not “the apocalyptic scenario” painted by opposition politicians.

And in a statement to MSPs, he said a new fleet of electric trains would be operational by December.

Mr Yousaf said: “This year we have already seen the first of 70 new electric trains start testing in Scotland. Passengers will be able to travel on these from autumn, with all of the E-G via Falkirk services operated by the new fleet by December. “These longer, faster, greener trains will provide 26 per cent more seats at peak times from this December, rising to 44 per cent when eight cars operate from December 2018, helping with capacity issues I know passengers want to see tackled."