RAIL regulators yesterday called on train companies to improve services ''dramatically'' after the publication of disappointing punctuality and reliability figures, which revealed that two companies operating in Scotland provide among the best and worst services in Britain.

In the year ending in March, punctuality worsened on 35 routes and improved on only 17, according to figures from the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising. On reliability, 23 routes improved, 22 got worse, and nine stayed the same.

The most punctual train services in Britain are provided by ScotRail, whose five main service groupings were all among the 17 routes which improved.

ScotRail Express, which runs the Edinburgh-Glasgow and Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness services, improved its reliability from 94.8% arriving within 10 minutes of schedule last year to 96.3% this year.

However, the worst performers on punctuality were the Virgin-owned West Coast's services in Scotland, although the company's much-criticised English operations showed continued improvements in time-keeping.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said yesterday: ''It is unacceptable that in many cases the performance of train operators still continues to be worse than last year.

''Passengers deserve much better, bearing in mind the #1800m from taxpayers going into the privatised railway.''

Franchising director John O'Brien said: ''Passengers have a right to expect performance to improve year on year. Instead, punctuality generally, although still better than in 1995-96, has slipped back from the improvements achieved during 1996-97.''

Performance on West Coast's Scottish routes fell ''dramatically'' during the summer and autumn last year, and - despite improvements this spring - over the year just 69.5% of its services were on time, compared to 79.1% in 1996-97 and 75.7% in 1995-96.

By comparison, West Coast West Midlands services achieved 88.9% punctuality - up from 86% in 1996-97, while West Coast North West recorded 82% - up from 80.8% in 1996-97.

Passenger mileage and journeys were both up by about 7% on 1996-97.

Mr Alastair McPherson, managing director of ScotRail, said that, although he took encouragement from the figures, his company ''still has a long way to go'' in pursuing 100% punctuality.

''Our staff and those of Railtrack have been working hard behind the scenes and will take some encouragement from the figures. But we also realise that overall statistics mean nothing to passengers whose train is late. They don't care how well the rest of ScotRail is doing. All they are concerned about is the fact that their train is late, so they are late, their boss will be angry, and what are we going to do about it?

''I can tell them that train performance tops the list each morning at the daily meetings of our operating team. The focus is always on eliminating delays and cancellations.''

Mr Bill Ure, secretary of the Rail Users' Consultative Committee for Scotland, said: ''We are pleased to see that, at least in one part of the country, passengers are getting value for the substantial sums of taxpayers' money directed towards the railways.

''We are also glad to note that ScotRail does not intend to rest on its laurels but intends to drive performance up.

''This positive approach to performance is no less than taxpayers have a right to expect and what ScotRail needs to deliver to attract passengers to its services.''

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