Midland Mainline was bottom of the punctuality table

New quarterly figures released on Friday show punctuality went up by 1.2% to 84.2% compared to the same period last year. The average for the whole year has also improved slightly.

But the figures for April to June do not include the period of severe disruption caused by the summer heatwave.

Also, the figures showed the number of complaints per 100,000 journeys for all operators had increased by 6% since last year.

The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) chairman, Richard Bowker, said passengers can be pleased performance is moving gradually in the right direction, but added improvements should have gone further.

"The rise in complaints figures highlights the concerns passengers have about issues such as cleanliness and information," he said.

Woes

"We are particularly concerned about the punctuality of long-distance operators.

"While the train operators have much to improve, infrastructure performance is of considerable concern and Network Rail must improve the current unacceptable levels."

Last month a Network Rail freight train came off of tracks near Lichfield in the Midlands because lines buckled in the heat.

Thousands of passengers across Britain found services were disrupted.

Earlier this month about 1,600 trains were stopped and 60% of the London Underground network was closed due to the largest power cut from the National Grid for 10 years, stranding 250,000 during the evening rush hour.

'Turning a corner'

Despite the failures, Tom Symonds, the BBC's transport correspondent says the punctuality report is evidence some previously poor performers may be turning a corner.

Virgin's two services both improved, as did GNER, South West Trains, Arriva Trains Northern, and Merseyside, and First North Western.

In all, 17 out of 26 operators pushed up punctuality, he said.

Bottom of the table was Midland Mainline which dropped 15% because of problems with the lines it uses and train breakdowns.

The best overall performer was again the tiny island line on the Isle of Wight at 97%, figures showed.