Fewer of Bradford's trains are running on time this year than last year, according to figures out today.

The quarterly figures from the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising show that the performance of both Northern Spirit, which runs trains out of Bradford and Leeds, and Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), which runs the mainline service to London, have deteriorated over the past year.

Rail companies stress that the figures have only altered marginally and that they still represent good standards of service compared to other rail operators around the country.

The figures for the last quarter show that nearly one in ten trains on the trans-Pennine service (including those from Bradford Interchange) were more than five minutes late, compared to 8.5 per cent this time last year.

Other West Yorkshire services including trains from Bradford to Carlisle, Morecambe and Calder Valley had an 8.3 per cent chance of being late compared to 6.8 per cent this time last year.

The Airedale and Wharfedale commuter services into Bradford and Leeds performed better with only 5.6 per cent of trains being more than five minutes late, but this had fallen back from last year when only four per cent of trains did not meet the standard.

Neville Davies, of Aire Valley Rail Users said a major problem along the Aire Valley line, where railway bosses at Northern Spirit have promised new trains, was not punctuality but overcrowding.

"Many passengers getting on at Shipley in the rush hour are having to stand often all the way to Leeds,'' he said.

The railway company had pledged that when the new trains were introduced there would be a chance to add a fourth carriage but there were problems at Shipley station where the platform was not long enough.

Howard Keal of Northern Spirit said: "We are striving to improve the figures and the evidence is we are doing that because the most recent figures from this year are higher."

Nationally, punctuality declined on 48 of the routes operated by train companies and improved on only 16, the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising reported.

l Eight trespassers were arrested on Railtrack land in Wyke in a special high-profile operation by British Transport Police. The arrests were made during a special day excursion by a "Q-train" carrying British Transport Police officers between Leeds, Bradford, Halifax and Hebden Bridge.

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