TRAIN services in the region are getting later, with commuters suffering more and more delays, new figures reveal.

Punctuality worsened on routes run by two of the region's main train operators, GNER and Northern Spirit, in the period April to June 2000, compared with the same three months last year.

But rail users in the North are not suffering as badly as those in the South. Nationally, only three of the 25 train companies showed a punctuality improvement, according to statistics from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority.

Northern Spirit, which was acquired by Arriva earlier this year, saw the percentage of its trains arriving on time fall from 89.5 per cent last year to 87.6 per cent.

GNER's figures fell from 85.9 per cent to 84.5 per cent.

Virgin, which is competing against GNER for the franchise to run the east coast mainline, saw no change in its west coast service and a two per cent improvement in its cross country service.

A GNER spokesman described the figures as a blip and said they did not take into account improvements made in other months.

He said the company suffered in June because of the floods which disrupted the service, and damage to overhead power lines between London and Peterborough.

A spokesman for Northern Spirit said: "Following Arriva's acquisition of Northern Spirit, there were a number of inherited fundamental issues that had to be addressed.

"Action taken has included the recruitment of more staff, introduction of a rest day working agreement with drivers and improved fleet reliability. These actions are now resulting in improved service."

Mike Grant, chief executive of the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority said: "These are disappointing results and demonstrate the urgency of the rail franchise replacement process we are embarking on."

Railtrack blamed "the wrong type of weather" for the overall five per cent rise in train delays over the last three months.

Senior managers said the increase in delays from April to June, revealed in a report from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority, was caused by weather which was too wet or too hot.

The wettest April since records began and the wettest May for 17 years caused signals to short-circuit and automatically "fail" on red, Railtrack executives told the company's AGM.

More delays came on June 19 when temperatures soared above 30C (86F) causing tracks to buckle.

nshaefercs