East Coast trains shamed with UK's worst punctuality record

The East Coast line, operated on behalf of the Department for Transport, had a trains-on-time figure of 85.2% in the period from August 22 to September 18, Network Rail said.

East Coast was the only passenger train company not to achieve a punctuality figure of at least 91% during this period. But NR pointed out that East Coast services suffered delays caused mainly by factors outside its control.

A significant cable theft at Newark in Nottinghamshire on September 10 brought the East Coast line to a halt for many hours, while overhead line problems on August 31, south of Peterborough and involving First Capital Connect services, also had a major impact, NR said.

Overall, the train companies averaged 93.5% punctuality during the four-week period - fractionally down on the 93.6% figure for the same period last year.

Chiltern had the best record for the period August 22 to September 18 - with 97.3% of its trains running on time. Thirteen of the 19 companies improved their performance compared with the same period last year, with Virgin Trains, which operates the West Coast Main Line, seeing the biggest improvement (up from 89% to 91.3%).

NR operations and customer services director Robin Gisby said: "September has been a good month for delivering a high-quality, punctual service to the millions of passengers and freight users who rely on train services every day."

An East Coast spokesman said: "East Coast's punctuality continues to be affected by factors outside its control.

"For the second consecutive four-week period, the top three causes of delay were due to infrastructure and other external factors including cable theft, damage to overhead power lines and breakdowns involving other operators' trains. Had these events not happened, we would have met our target for more than nine trains out of 10 on time. We're continuing to make improvements and we achieved the best performance on the line for six years on one day last week."

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "The consistently high levels of punctuality shown by these latest figures demonstrate the rail industry's commitment to provide passengers with services that continue to improve. However, train companies are not complacent and will continue to work hard to make sure passengers get the best possible service."