GOOD news for Ulster travellers who fly to London through Gatwick Airport - or transit the airport en route to other destinations.

Passenger Focus, the independent national rail consumer watchdog, has surveyed 50,000 rail users about UK train operating companies, and Gatwick Express has been rated the top rail service for the sixth consecutive period as well as achieving the highest ever recorded score in the survey's history.

The independent national passenger survey (NPS) provides a picture of customers' satisfaction with rail travel. Customer opinions of train services are collected twice a year from a representative sample of passenger journeys.

Passengers' overall satisfaction and satisfaction with 31 specific aspects of service are also compared.

Andrew Conroy, Head of Customer Service at Gatwick Express explained: "Gatwick Express has evolved a customer service ethos which has become the essence of our company. Everything we do we do to make our customers' journeys better.

"In our business we have a world class relationship with our employees and it is through the staff at Gatwick Express that such outstanding customer service is delivered. We recruit, train and develop our teams with programmes which use customer service as our primary goal"

Gatwick Express scored 94 per cent on the overall customer satisfaction - a figure higher than any previous NPS satisfaction score - and an improvement on Gatwick Express by one per cent.

He added: "It is now an old-fashioned and out-of-date cliché to laugh at this country's rail network. The standards we set at Gatwick Express, and those against which we are measured, are as high as anywhere in the world.
"Our performance demonstrates how Gatwick Express is the success story of the UK rail industry but also shows a triumph for UK customer service."