VIRGIN Trains is urging infrastructure group Network Rail to speed up repair work on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) which left the operator bottom of the industry performance table for punctuality between October and November.

The group, which runs the Liverpool to London link and has recently forged closer links with the city’s business community to help drive the economy, said speed restrictions due to repairs on the southern end of the WCML were creating delays to services.

Virgin Trains chief operating officer Chris Gibb said there was little likelihood the issue will be resolved before the end of the year, with repair work already behind schedule.

“Network Rail is too far behind,” he said.

He agreed with claims by the Office of Rail Regulation that Network Rail will be unable to deliver its punctuality targets for WCML operators for the current year.

Network Rail says the problems are due to track conditions caused by ballast under rail lines that had shifted slightly during this year’s dry weather.

Its spokesman, Kevin Groves, said teams were working on correcting the “dips” every weekend, and work would continue over the Christmas break.

He said the track faults were causing 25% of all delays on the southern half of the WCML, second only to fatalities and cable thefts, which cause 31% of delays.

He said the organisation has also committed £25m for WCML repairs, including an extra £16m to tackle the track faults.