More than 3,000 trains between Norwich and London - nearly one in six - were late last year, according to figures released yesterday.And the busy 4pm to 11.

More than 3,000 trains between Norwich and London - nearly one in six - were late last year, according to figures released yesterday.

And the busy 4pm to 11.30pm slot was the worst for trains going from the capital to Norwich with 17.39pc delayed by five minutes or more.

The biggest reason for cancellations in 2007, accounting for more than a quarter, was infrastructure problems such as point or track failures, with fleet issues caused by operator National Express East Anglia (NEEA) coming a close second, the figures also revealed.

They come from Network Rail (NR) in response to a question from Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, regarding delays following a number of problems last year.

The letter from NR shows that 18 trains were cancelled last year due to passenger disruption, such as fighting, making up 2.87pc of the total number of cancellations.

Overhead line equipment failure made up just 3.72pc while NR operations problems caused by incidents such as suicides and fires accounted for more than a fifth, although no further detailed breakdown was available last night.

Infrastructure problems caused 180 cancellations, 28.22pc of the total while NEEA fleet issues accounted for 25.64pc - equating to 163 trains.

Vandalism and weather caused 53 cancellations, 8.41pc of the total.

Dr Gibson said the situation was a “shambles” that now needed government intervention and would hamper East Anglia's development.

“The figures are astonishingly bad, what else can go wrong? Everything seems to go wrong at some point, the trains are so unreliable and you can't keep blaming it on old stock.”