MP NICHOLAS Soames has called for urgent Government action to end the "misery" suffered by Mid Sussex commuters.

He spoke out after Sussex rail operators Connex SouthCentral were slammed for their standards in an official report published yesterday.

The Office of Passenger Rail Franchising dossier revealed how Connex had failed to meet minimum time-keeping standards.

Rail passengers themselves labelled the trains dirty and uncomfortable in the report.

Mr Soames, who himself carried out a survey of commuters at Haywards Heath, East Grinstead and Burgess Hill stations last year, said the new report vindicated his findings.

The MP has already metwith Railways Minister Dr John Reid in response to his own survey.

He said: "The Minister agreed that rail companies need to be more mindful of their obligations to their paying passengers and that he expected them to provide better value for money."

Mr Soames has also tackled managers from Connex and Thameslink.

He said: "Management must take more responsibility for operational matters including punctuality, cleanliness, reliability and seating capacity.

"In this day and age it is not good enough for trains to be cancelled because of staff shortages. Companies must make contingency plans to deal with this."

The OPRAF report revealed how almost 19 per cent of trains were late in a three-month period from October last year. The target is 13 per cent.

Connex yesterday insisted it was not being complacent.

The report showed that Connex had improved its reliability, with less than one per cent of services being cancelled.

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