Greater Anglia passengers have become happier about their journeys over the last year according to a new survey by the official watchdog Transport Focus.

In the last year, the train company's satisfaction ratings in several categories have increased by double figure percentages. These include availability of staff at stations, provision of information during the journey, toilet facilities on trains and station facilities.

The story in Greater Anglia is reflected across the country – most train companies saw a sharp increase in passenger satisfaction.

Passengers in this region showed major increases in satisfaction with station facilities. Greater Anglia has recently upgraded Norwich station as part of a major programme of improvements across the region.

There was also improved satisfaction with the overall punctuality and reliability of the region's trains and the helpfulness of staff.

The one area where there had been a slight drop over the last six months was the cleanliness inside the trains and the overall upkeep of the trains – although these were both better than they were a year ago.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia Managing Director, said: 'It's very pleasing to see that our hard work is making a positive difference to customers.

'It's great that our customers feel that our investment in customer service, cleanliness and train maintenance is making their journeys better.

'We have been improving lighting, information and seating at stations across our network and we have recently completed major station upgrade projects at Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge and Chelmsford stations. Over the course of our current franchise we will also invest nearly £60m in further station improvements.

'On-train information, like train reliability, has been an area of significant investment and business focus. Many of our drivers and conductors' announcements are praised on Twitter and we are working hard to make information provision better still.

'However, we are not complacent, and we still have much to do to improve the service further, increase customer satisfaction to higher levels and make life a little easier for our customers.'

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said of the national picture: 'These green shoots are fragile and need nurturing. This recovery will be under pressure from upgrade works, industrial relationship problems and rising passenger numbers. So the industry needs to keep a relentless, ongoing focus on performance and reliability.'