Rail company Southern has been told to “shape up or ship out” following showdown talks with MPs over its “abysmal” service.

Yesterday: Southern could be stripped of its franchise if it does not improve "appalling" rail service

About 20 MPs met with rail bosses yesterday to demand better service but left unconvinced about the operator’s promises about improvements.

Last week Southern was given three months to improve services or risk pressure for the Government to take over services but that deadline was not taken away from the meeting.

At the meeting convened by Rail Minister Claire Perry, the company committed to employing more drivers and upgrading carriages to prevent breakdowns and said it was working with Network Rail to improve punctuality.

But MP for Sutton and Cheam Paul Scully said: “We were hoping to take away something that we could explain to constituents, but we really didn’t get that satisfaction.

“There is not really a lot from the meeting that gives me any confidence that I can say ‘don’t worry guys, it is all going to be better soon’.

“They got to see the depth of our concern which is really important.

“They are doing a lot of work but it is going to be at least a year before we see any improvement and if that is their minimum then it could be a lot longer than that.

“We can’t keep taking excuses basically, we will keep on the pressure so that they shape up or ship out.”

Croydon South MP Chris Philp said: “The performance of Southern continues to be absolutely abysmal.

“Following the meeting today I am still unconvinced that their performance improvement plan is working.

“The excuses made regarding driver shortages and a historic lack of investment in rail infrastructure do not account for their consistent failings.

“The target dates for improvements have been pushed back again and again, which has caused both myself and my constituents to lose faith in their promises.

“I personally asked for the root causes of the disastrous performance to be urgently fixed, as well as why improvements were not coming through as promised previously.

“The problem of driver shortages, which they are currently addressing, should have been confronted much sooner to prevent the disastrous performance over the Christmas period.

“It is inexcusable that dividends can be paid out to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) shareholders when performance is sub-woeful. Should no improvement be clearly visible by the summer, I will be calling for the franchise to be removed or broken up.”

A spokesman for Southern said: “Network Rail and GTR are working closely together to increase punctuality, with Network Rail making track, signalling and other systems more dependable and GTR bringing in new, more reliable trains this spring and still more drivers.”

According to MPs only 78 per cent of Southern’s trains arrive at their final destination on time, with the figure dropping to one in five in December.

On December 15 only 44 per cent of Southern’s services arrived within 5 minutes of its services arrived on time.