A Norfolk MP has criticised Network Rail for affecting Greater Anglia's line as the train service's performance dropped to an all-time-low.

North Norfolk MP, Norman Lamb, obtained railway figures for 2018 showing that the Greater Anglia franchise suffered its worst year with 3.64pc of trains being cancelled.

Of those that did run 87pc arrived on time.

Mr Lamb said: 'It's hugely disappointing to see record cancellations on the Greater Anglia franchise.

'Depressingly, this poor performance is not unexpected. The figures make clear that the delays are being caused disproportionately by infrastructure, which is managed by Network Rail.'

Eastern Daily Press: Greater Anglia has defended their recent performance statistics. Picture: Sonya DuncanGreater Anglia has defended their recent performance statistics. Picture: Sonya Duncan (Image: ARCHANT EASTERN DAILY PRESS (01603) 772434)

He has called on the Department for Transport and Network Rail to urgently address this under-performance which causes such disruption to passengers.

But Greater Anglia said performance is on the up.

A spokesman said: 'Performance is improving – on many of our Norfolk routes punctuality was well over 90pc in January and that trend is continuing in February. However, we know that customers want punctuality across the network to be consistently better. We have regular 'performance summits' with Network Rail to ensure that together we deal with delays more quickly, both in terms of fixing what has gone wrong and then getting the railway running back to normal quicker.

Network Rail says it is investing £2.2bn in the region in the next five years.

Eastern Daily Press: Great Anglia are updating their trains. Picture: ArchantGreat Anglia are updating their trains. Picture: Archant (Image: Archant Norfolk 2015)

Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail's route managing director for Anglia, said: 'We know that train punctuality for Greater Anglia customers has not been what they expect or deserve over the last 12 months.

'We take full responsibility for the part we have played, and we have been working with Greater Anglia to address the declining trend in punctuality in the short-term.'

Eastern Daily Press: Services between Norwich and Cromer were suspended for more than an hour after the vehicle became stuck under the Norwich Road bridge in North Walsham. Photo: Neil PerryServices between Norwich and Cromer were suspended for more than an hour after the vehicle became stuck under the Norwich Road bridge in North Walsham. Photo: Neil Perry (Image: Archant)