Railtrack today blamed wet weather, security alerts and suicide attempts on routes in Sussex for a ten per cent increase in train delays.

The company could face a multi-million pound fine after falling behind its target of reducing hold-ups by 7.8 per cent for the year starting last April.

Delays actually increased by ten per cent between April and September.

Track circuit failures were the biggest cause of trains being late. Railtrack blamed the failures on the wettest April since records began, the wettest May in 17 years and the wettest September in 19 years.

Two major incidents in the first half of the year seriously delayed commuter services between Brighton and London.

A security alert at Victoria and Paddington stations on July 19 held up services between Brighton and the capital for several hours.

And a missile attack on the MI6 building last month stopped mainline routes through Clapham Junction for 16 hours.

A suicide on the Brighton main line at Salfords in September caused a total delay to services of 8,415 minutes.

But Railtrack also saw a 30 per cent drop in the number of trains passing red signals.

Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett said: "The first half of the financial year saw record levels of investment, with an increase of 36 per cent to £1.2 billion. This is more than Railtrack invested in the whole of 1996-97.

"We apologise for the inconvenience delays cause to travellers. However, our investment programme is vital to the long-term health of the railway, and passengers will ultimately benefit from the work."

Mr Corbett said there would be a massive autumn improvement programme.

Railtrack has already been fined £10 million by Rail Regulator Tom Winsor for failing to meet its delay-reduction target for 1999-2000.

By the end of this month, Mr Winsor will announce whether he intends to impose any further financial penalties on the company.

That could be as much as £35 million unless Railtrack can improve its record in the second half of the financial year.