EAST Coast has blamed a series of “external factors” for poor punctuality on its trains last month.

The York-based train operator was highlighted in new figures which showed that only 85.1 per cent of its trains ran on time in the period, compared to a national average for the period of 93 per cent.

A spokesman said that over the last five months, external factors had had a significant adverse affect on service performance, including infrastructure failures – which were the responsibility of Network Rail – fatalities on the line and an extended period of exceptionally wet weather.

He said: “Despite these challenges, East Coast’s train fleet continues to perform well and the company is working collaboratively with Network Rail both to improve punctuality, and to reduce the number of catastrophic impacts on its services.”

Network Rail said East Coast punctuality had been affected by two overhead line incidents, near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire and at Grantham in Lincolnshire, a signalling fault at Sandy in Bedfordshire and a fatality near Berwick upon Tweed.

East Coast has been run in the public sector since National Express ceased operating the franchise in 2009, but earlier this year, the Government announced it would return to the private sector in February 2015.