AN AVERAGE of 57 trains a day are significantly late, nationwide industry figures published today show.

Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data found that 5,250 services were between 30 and 119 minutes late in the period from July to September last year.

However, the true number of delays could be even higher as the figures do not include trains that were two hours or more behind schedule.

The Caledonian Sleeper, which runs overnight trains between London and Scotland, was the operator with the highest percentage (3.7 per cent) of its services suffering from such disruption.

The second-worst performer was First Hull Trains (2.7 per cent), followed by Virgin Trains East Coast (2.6 per cent) and Grand Central (2 per cent).

Passengers using Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) — responsible for Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services — suffered from the largest year-on-year rise in the number of significantly late trains, up 73 per cent to 816 over the three-month period.

Rail union RMT blamed private ownership of Britain’s railways for the failings.

General secretary Mick Cash said: “These shocking statistics will come as no surprise to the passengers left stranded on platforms as trains are cancelled at the drop of a hat by private rail companies due to a shortage of fleet, staff and chronic underinvestment in infrastructure.

“The collapse in performance on the basket-case Govia Thameslink franchise comes just a day before the closure of consultation on plans by that crowd to downgrade and close 84 ticket offices.

“Those plans must be stopped through a massive campaign of public pressure and RMT will continue to fight for a return to public ownership.”