Eight out of ten passengers are satisfied with the overall service provided by Northern Rail, the biggest train operator in Bradford, it has been revealed.

But Passenger Focus, an independent consumer watchdog, surveyed 1,075 Northern Rail passengers and found that nearly a third were unhappy with parking facilities across Northern Rail’s network.

In the last decade, extra parking spaces have been provided at Menston, Steeton and Silsden, Guiseley, New Pudsey and Brighouse, while there are ongoing moves to create more spaces at Keighley, but many car parks are still full to bursting point.

Tim Calow, of Aire Valley Rail Users’ Group, said: “Services continue to run well, and it’s notable that they kept going in the bad weather when people trying to travel by car were stuck.”

Mr Calow said the increased popularity of the lines to Skipton and Ilkley since electrification meant overcrowding on trains and in car parks was now the main issue, especially with the squeeze on public spending set to further restrict schemes to increase capacity.

Heidi Mottram, managing director of Northern Rail, said: “We are pleased that a majority of passengers are satisfied with our services, and that satisfaction scores have increased in many individual areas.

“We and our partners have invested £100 million in better trains and stations over the past five years and this has helped attract 34 per cent more passengers and increase the number of trains on time to a record 91.7 per cent.

“There is much more to do, including improving some of our larger stations, expanding our cycle storage facilities and refurbishing our trains, to provide an even better service.”

Meanwhile, train operator East Coast, which runs a direct daily service between Bradford Forster Square and London as part of its mainline services, has welcomed the new survey after the results showed 89 per cent of passengers were satisfied with services on the route.

East Coast managing director Karen Boswell said: “The results give us a solid base on which to build improvements, with plans to raise standards further.”

The second-best results in the country were achieved by Grand Central, the company that plans to start running three return services a day from Bradford Interchange to London King’s Cross from May this year.

The survey showed that 95 per cent of passengers were satisfied with Grand Central’s existing services between Sunder-land and London.

Meanwhile, 89 per cent of passengers using First Trans-Pennine Express services said they were satisfied, although 38 per cent of those were unhappy with car parking facilities.