MPs have called for Sutton’s main rail operator to be immediately stripped of its franchises to end to commuters’ “misery”.

Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, and Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South, have urged that Govia Thameslink Railway’s routes should be handed to Transport for London (TfL) earlier than planned in response to the company’s poor performance.

TfL is due to take over all suburban routes in the capital, including those operated by Govia companies Southern and Thameslink, by 2021.

Mr Brake said: “I believe that Southern should be turfed out and replaced with TfL at the earliest possibility.

“Southern are clearly failing their passengers in an outrageous way and I would like to throw them out and have TfL as they put a greater emphasis on customer satisfaction.”

But he acknowledged it would be difficult to hand the reins of the routes to TfL because Southern have not breached their contractual obligations.

Mr Brake was speaking after Mr Philp described Govia’s franchises as “too big and unmanageable” and said the company had failed to improve since January, when MPs held showdown talks with Rail Minister Claire Perry about customer dissatisfaction with late and cancelled trains.

It came after just one in five Southern trains arrived on time in December.

A Southern spokesman said: “We fully accept that our performance is not good at the moment, and we apologise to our passengers for this. We are working extremely hard on improving on things where we have a direct influence on performance.”