Consumer rights group Which? has exposed what it calls “embarrassingly low” satisfaction rates passengers have with the nation’s train companies and called for the creation of a rail ombudsman to help improve the industry.

The group ran a decade-long analysis on how satisfied customers were with train companies’ punctuality, reliability and ability to deal with complaints.

The results show sluggish progress since 2007, with overall journey satisfaction among passengers on average up just 2 percentage points in the past 10 years to 81pc.

While overall commuter satisfaction rose from 69pc to 74pc in the period, this group of passengers has become worn down with the amount of delays they suffer.

The Which? report, which used data from passenger group Transport Focus, showed commuter satisfaction with punctuality and reliability actually fell from 68pc in 2007 to 63pc in 2016.