ScotRail has been praised by passengers for improving its services – but travellers want better and more up to date news about delays.

The train operator achieved an 89% overall satisfaction rate for its services in 2011 in a national survey conducted by Passenger Focus, the independent watchdog.

That was 3% up on 2010 and 5% above the national average.

Punctuality and reliability came in at 86%, which was also five points more than the UK average.

Passengers also said they were more than happy with train cleanliness, up 8% to 84%.

The views on toilet facilities rose 11% – but still reached only 51% satisfaction. However, that was still 13% better the UK average.

Staff were also praised for the way they deal with customers, with a satisfaction score of 92% – a jump of 15% on 2010 and 6% higher than the national average.

ScotRail managing director Steve Montgomery said: “These results are a tribute to our workforce.”

But passengers were not impressed with the way the company handled delays. The satisfaction rate was 34% –meaning two in three people were unhappy.

The survey was held from September 1 to November 18 and ScotRail attributed most of the delay complaints to a 48-hour spell in August when Scotland had more rain than the average for the entire month, severely affecting services.

Mr Montgomery said: “We have given smartphones to more than 800 on-train staff to pass on real time information.

“We have also seen a massive increase in customers accessing our website’s new disruption information and JourneyAlert registrations.

“We will continue focusing on driving this score back up.”

gordon.thomson@ eveningtimes.co.uk

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