Rail chiefs celebrated yesterday as passenger train punctuality improved by a margin of less than 1 per cent over the past financial year but analysis of the new figures showed that taxpayers are spending more than before on running the railways.

The subsidy for each mile travelled by a passenger — a key measure of rail expenditure — increased by 50 per cent in the past year, from 5.3p to 8p. Yet 18.8 per cent of trains were delayed.

Satistics from the the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) for winter last revealed that punctuality had still not reached levels achieved before the October 2000 Hatfield rail crash, which claimed four lives.

Figures from the National Rail Trends Yearbook show that a total of 83.1 per cent of trains ran on time in January to March 2004, a rise of 2.6 percentage points from the year before.

But the punctuality figure for the same three months of 2000 before Hatfield reached nearly 90 per cent.

Passenger groups gave warning that train customers were in for a long, hard slog before service on the railways reaches acceptable levels.

Stewart Francis, chairman of the Rail Passengers Council, said: “We welcome this continued slow, steady improvement in punctuality and reliability but performance is not anywhere near a level that is acceptable to passengers.

“These overall statistics mask the fact that some passengers’ trains arrive on time virtually every time, while others experience late journeys.

“It will be some time before we see the investment translated into real delivery. There is room for optimism but, once again, passengers will have to be patient to see the results for themselves.”

Of the 23 companies that received public subsidies, 21 were allocated more money by the SRA. Despite the boost to their finances, three recorded a poorer performance last year. These were First North Western, Silverlink and the local services run by Anglia. A fourth company, c2c, which was assigned less subsidy in 2003-04, also dropped back.

Great North Eastern Railway, which does not receive a subsidy, lagged behind other long-distance train operators. Although the company improved its punctuality by 2 per cent in the winter of 2003-04, nearly a quarter of its trains ran late.

First Great Western recorded 83 per cent prompt arrivals.Christopher Garnett, GNER’s chief executive, said: “In the longer-term, the introduction of a totally rebuilt fleet of trains by the end of 2005 will transform the journey experience for all our passengers. These Mallard trains — six of which are in service, with twenty-four to follow — are proving to be a big hit with passengers.”

Total investment in the railways, including public and private money, has risen. The SRA said that provisional figures suggested that more than £5 billion was ploughed into Britain’s railways in 2003-04 — an increase of 24 per cent on the previous year. The authority says that less than half of this figure comes from the public purse.

However, experts believe that the figures hide the true extent of public investment.

A separate analysis of rail expenditure by Roger Ford, technical editor of Modern Railways magazine, calculates that the total cost to the taxpayer of running the railways will be £5.4 billion this year, up from last year’s £3.8 billion.

He says that the SRA’s assessment of public/private funding conceals the indirect support for the railways via government-backed loans to Network Rail, the not-forprofit organisation that replaced Railtrack.

The Department for Transport defended the extra investment. “The railway industry suffered from decades of underinvestment. That money is necessary and is delivering results. There are a lot of very necessary improvements going on on the tracks,” he said.

“Nobody is denying that costs could be controlled better. That is why the Secretary of State, Alistair Darling, has announced a review of the structure of the rail industry which we hope will be published in the next month.” The SRA also announced yesterday that only 42 per cent of passengers thought they were getting value for money — the same figure as in the autumn of 2003. Complaints per 100,000 journeys between January and March this year decreased by 43 per cent, and 70 per cent of passengers were happy with punctuality and reliability of trains — the best figure for four years.

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