Rail chiefs today welcomed a rise in the number of trains running on time - even though they are still less punctual than before the Hatfield crash more than three and-a-half years ago.

Three of the North-East's major train operators recorded year-on-year increases in the percentage of their trains being on time, new figures showed.

The once beleaguered Virgin Cross Country performed the best and saw punctuality increase from 67.8 per cent to 80.7 per cent when comparing January-March 2004 with January-March 2003.

The firm admitted last year that its new multi-million pound Voyager fleet had taken time to bed in and it was also forced to scale services due to a lack of capacity on the network.

Spokesman David Ewart said: "We are heartened by the figures, but we are not complacent.

"Part of the improvement is down to the Voyager trains now showing themselves to be among the most reliable long distance inter city trains in Britain.

"Timetable adjustments have also helped and we have worked with the Strategic Rail Authority to iron out bottlenecks."

Long distance rival GNER saw the number of trains running on time rise from 74.8 per cent to 76.9 per cent over the same period.

But this was well down on the national average of 83.1 per cent. And in the comparable period before the Hatfield crash in October 2000 -- which led to huge disruption for train operators - the national average punctuality figure was as high as 89.1 per cent.

GNER said it recognised there was room for improvement and was currently spending £100 million on rebuilt, longer and more reliable trains. Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) increased the punctuality of its services from 82.2 per cent to 85.9 per cent.

Ironically the firm which replaced ATN in running Trans Pennine Express services between the North-East, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, saw the number of trains it runs on time drop slightly.

But the consortium of First Group and Keolis pointed that it had only taken over the franchise in February this year.

Between January and March 2004 82.9 per cent of trains ran on time compared to 83.7 per cent in the same period in 2003.

The Strategic Rail Authority, which released the punctuality figures, said improvements in performance came as more than £5bn was invested in Britain's railways in 2003-4 - an increase of 24 per cent on the previous year.