Railtrack could face up to £70 million in fines for train delays.

The network operator has partly blamed wet weather in April, May and September for a ten per cent increase in train delays.

The Rail Regulator has warned Railtrack that it would be fined a million pounds every time it failed to reduce a previously-recorded delay by 12 per cent, according to the York-based Rail Passengers' Committee (RPC).

Ernie Preston, of the York RPC, said he was concerned that the fines income was not being reinvested to improve the system.

Railtrack said its performance in the first six months of the year had been six per cent worse than at the same point last year.

Track circuit failures were the largest cause of delays, with Railtrack attributing this to the wettest April since records began, the wettest May in 17 years and the wettest September in 19 years.

Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett expressed regret over the performance statistic figures and said it had been a very difficult summer.

The problem was a combination of poor weather, heavier train usage and track and signalling renovation work.

Mr Corbett said: "If you put together the safety programme, the growth, the huge increase in investment, and then you couple that with the wettest April ever, and the wettest May for 17 years, and the wettest September for 20, I'm afraid it is difficult to run the trains sometimes."

Ernie Preston said: "The fines are well and good, but they should be going back to benefit the passengers instead of being taken out of the system.

"Hopefully the Railways Bill currently going through Parliament will put a stop to that."