Richard Branson's Virgin Trains have the worst record for punctuality in the country, according to the latest official figures.

Virgin's West Coast services achieved a punctuality figure of only 84.4% in the year to 16 October 16 1999.

And the performance of Virgin CrossCountry services was even worse, recording a figure of 80.7%.

The figures from, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority's statistics, helped push the two companies down into category D in terms of reliability and punctuality in the latest table.

Only the Cardiff Railway, in category E, was below Virgin by virtue of poor reliability figures.

But overall there was good news for passengers in that reliability and punctuality improved among the 25 passenger train companies in the period 25 July to 16 October 1999.

Thirty-six of the 77 routes run by the train companies had better reliability compared with the same quarter of 1998, 14 did worse and 27 stayed the same.

For the 12-month period ending 16 October, 1999, reliability improved on 39 routes, worsened on 28 and stayed the same on 10.

The 25 July to 16 October period saw punctuality improve on 47 routes, worsen on 25 and stay the same on five.

For the year ending 16 October 1999, punctuality declined on 44 routes and improved on 33.

'Good start'

The recent improvements mean that only three companies are now in the bottom two grades - category D and category E - in the rail authority's performance table.

A year ago, there were seven companies in the bottom two.

The authority's chief executive, Mike Grant, said: "These results show an overall picture of continuing improvements in performance but a lot needs to be done to bring the figures up to the level of passengers' expectations.

"But this is a good start. As we continue with the process of franchise replacements, the commitment of operating companies to improving performance will be one of the key factors in determining outcomes."

But passenger watchdog, the Central Rail Users' Consultative Committee, said the overall proportion of seriously delayed trains had not improved.

'Serious slips'

It said passengers on some routes had suffered severe disruptions and performance was still patchy.

The committee said that on average, 8.4 trains in every 100 were delayed in the year ending 16 October 1999.

Committee chairman David Bertram said: "Welcome performance improvements in some places have been marred by serious slips in others."

George Muir, director of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said the results were "encouraging".

He said: "These figures highlight the industry's determination to provide passengers with a high-quality service."