The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has blamed Network Rail for various delays faced by passengers.

Between April and October, ORR claims there were almost 16,000 infrastructure incidents on the rail system, five per cent more than the same time last year, resulting in 1.7 million minutes of delays, or more than 28,000 hours.

The authority claims this is down to Network Rail not spending all its allocated funds for maintenance, as well as delaying plans to renew infrastructure.

ORR's director of railway planning and performance Alan Price said: "The company is currently operating with a large underspend and a significant shortfall against the performance targets it signed up to. It is also behind schedule on its own maintenance and renewal plans."

He added ORR has now set new targets from 2014, which will see Network Rail focus on preventative measures, as opposed to fixing problems when they occur. It is additionally tasked with reducing the amount of failures which affect services.

Network Rail was also accused of letting engineering work over-run, with ORR making the announcement just after the former announced various operations across the country during Christmas. The rail operator argues this is a quieter period and thus causes minimal disruptions.