COMMUTERS in East Anglia were faced with one late train in every four in the first three months of this year.A total of 80.5 per cent of trains were on time in January-March 2003, compared to 80.

COMMUTERS in East Anglia were faced with one late train in every four in the first three months of this year.

A total of 80.5 per cent of trains were on time in January-March 2003, compared to 80.9% for the same period last year, according to the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).

One of the region's rail operators Anglia Railways saw 75.9% of its long-distance trains arrive on time – compared to 82.3% last year. Regionally it had 87.6% trains running on time, up on last year's figure of 85.4%.

First Great Eastern was one of the top-performing operators in the country.

The SRA study showed that 87.8% of its trains were on time in the first three months of 2003, although the figures dropped from 91.3% last year.

Peter Meades, from Anglia Railways, said: "There are some grounds for optimism in these figures, but there is still more to do. We are not complacent - work needs to be done to improve the figures, and we are continuing to work hard at doing that."

Derek Langslow, chairman of the East of England Rail Passenger's Committee, said: "The overall picture in the East of England is better than the national picture. First Great Eastern's record these days is very good, and I think they are close to being as good as they can get, given the amount of things which can hit punctuality, but are out of their control.

"The Anglia figures remain very good locally, but they are disappointing for the long distance category."

Commuter Amy Ross from Woodbridge said: "I would say that one in every five trains is late. It doesn't affect me too much at the moment, but it is still not good enough."