GNER was last night warned it has still some way to go to improve its train punctuality record.

The company has made recent strides towards running more trains on time despite having to contend with a catalogue of problems on the East Coast Main Line.

Figures released by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) show that for the first quarter of this year 72 per cent of GNER trains arrived on time. This was up from 69.2 per cent on the last quarter of last year, said the SRA.

Just under 71 per cent of trains were, on average, on time up until June this year.

But despite the upward trend, passenger groups said the company still had more to do to come up to scratch.

Brian Milnes, chairman of the Tees Valley branch of Transport 2000, said: "GNER has had a lot of problems not of its own making. But 72 per cent is still not good enough and we want to see it make more improvements.

"It should be aiming towards 90 per cent."

GNER said factors outside its control had affected its performance.

These included a landslip near Durham which led to speed restrictions being imposed by Railtrack while repair work was carried out.

The company also recorded two deaths on the East Coast Main Line, which had caused severe delays and forced it to re-route services because of the Potters Bar rail crash.

Spokesman David Mallender said: "There is more to do but our performance is getting better.

"We are trying to concentrate on the things that can help, such as improving the reliability of our trains."

Virgin Cross Country, which runs trains from Newcastle to the West Country, fared worse than GNER in the figures.

Up to June 30, this year, 65.7 per cent of its trains were running on time, on average.

Regional operator Arriva Trains Northern continued to improve its punctuality, re-cording an increase for the third quarter in a row. On average, 77.5 per cent of its trains ran on time up until June, although this did not take into account some services that were cancelled because of a shortage of drivers.