Barking station has been named among the least popular in the UK in a survey of rail passengers.

The survey, conducted by independent watchdog Transport Focus, found Barking station to be the fifth most unpopular station in the country and the second most unpopular station in London.

In the survey of 28,000 people at 56 stations between September and November 2017 Barking station scored a satisfaction rating of 70 per cent. Glasgow’s Queen Street recorded the worst score of 58 pc, with Clapham Junction deemed to be the worst in the capital, scoring 69 pc.

Barking station, whose design is based on the Italian capital’s principal station Roma Termini, is maintained by rail operator c2c.

A company spokesman said that c2c “completely agree with our customers that Barking station needs a radical overhaul”.

He added: “We will be submitting a full planning application to the council shortly for a multi-million pound redevelopment and we hope that customers will be seeing significant progress within the next year.”

The stations with the top four scores - King’s Cross (96pc), St Pancras (95pc), Birmingham New Street (92pc) and Reading (92pc) have all recently undergone major refurbishments.

c2c are owned by Italian company Trenitalia, who are also responsible for maintaining the 50s modernist structure Roma Termini.

In August c2c managing director Julian Drury told a group of the borough’s business leaders at a meeting of the Barking and Dagenham Chamber of Commerce that the option of improving both stations with similar designs was being explored.

Whilst the station in Rome is considerably larger than its Barking counterpart, the similarities between the two buildings are quite striking.

The council’s ‘Mini Manhattan’ concept plans for Barking town centre, which were designed to spark interest from developpers to help regenerate the high street, would preserve the station’s Grade II listed canopy.

The architechture firm who helped with the plans said improving the staion is central to regenerating the town centre.

Bea Young, associate partner at Weston Williamson and Partners, said: “This vision realises a fantastic opportunity to reinvigorate Barking town centre through the transformation of the station and by improving connectivity between neighbourhoods.”