A TRAIN company serving the North-East and North Yorkshire cancels 35 services a day - the second-worst record in the country.

No fewer than 12,884 trains were axed at the last minute by Northern last year because of staff shortages, breakdowns and track failures, according to government figures.

Northern also blamed "acts of God" for the cancellation of 2,179 of the services - by far the highest total of any of the private train operators.

A spokesman said the description covered "events beyond our control", such as heavy rain, flooding, fallen trees and storm damage to stations and other infrastructure.

For a second successive week, Northern's performance has been attacked by MPs, following criticisms of its poor record for revamping rundown rail stations.

The all-party public accounts committee highlighted how, under the terms of its December 2004 franchise agreement, the company is not required to make improvements. The only operator with a performance worse than Northern's was Central Trains, which operates in the Midlands. It cancelled 16,351 trains - or 45 a day.

The Northern spokesman said that storm damage to power lines on August 31 last year alone led to the cancellation of 20 trains between Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

He said: "Storms, high winds and heavy rain on January 8 forced the cancellation of nearly 300 trains and caused widespread delays to many of our services."

Figures revealed that a train was cancelled every five minutes on Britain's railways, mainly because of technical faults and staff shortages.

The 104,342 axed services were the equivalent of scrapping the entire national timetable for more than five days. The figures showed Britain's railways are becoming more reliable, with punctuality at 83 per cent.

But critics have said the cost to the taxpayer - £87m a week - is too high.