RAIL bosses at Arriva Trains Northern are still waiting to hear if they will have to pay a £2 million fine for poor performance.

Back in October of last year, the rail watchdog, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), proposed to levy the penalty on the embattled franchise in response to delays in its summer timetable.

Initially, it was widely expected that any decision to impose the penalty would be taken late last November.

But the Evening Press can reveal that the SRA has postponed making its decision three times since its October announcement.

Today, a spokesman said that was due to the large response the watchdog had received from individuals and industry figures who wanted to have their say.

As part of its announcement in October, the SRA postponed immediately levying the fine before it had undertaken a month-long consultation period.

"We are still conducting our consultation process. We have had quite a number of responses from the public and the rail industry," the spokesman said.

"We are now in the process of concluding our consideration and those responses.

"We hope to make an announcement reasonably soon."

Arriva also faces an extra fine of £5,000 for every driver it has recruited below a target demanded by the SRA.

Driver shortages have been one of Arriva's major problems since it inherited TransPennine Express and northern regional rail services from Northern Spirit.

An Arriva spokeswoman said: "We feel it would be inappropriate to comment on this subject at this time."

Updated: 15:40 Thursday, January 17, 2002