Train services in Sussex are third class, according to figures released today.

The latest performance tables class Connex SouthCentral in category C and D, the lowest possible. The figures come just days after Connex won through the first round of competition in its battle to retain the franchise to run the service across the SouthCentral region.

The rail watchdog criticised today's rankings and said the Sussex firms' performance was "unacceptably low". Shelley Atlas, of the Brighton Line Commuters Group, said the poor results came as no surprise.

She said: "We would expect the standard to be higher and if they set a target which is reasonable they should be attaining it, whatever the rail lines are like. Both Connex and Railtrack know what money needs to be spent."

John Scott, assistant secretary at the Rail Users Consultative Committee (RUCC) for Southern England said: "The committee is disappointed to see the figures falling from what is already an unacceptably low level.

"This means more than one in ten trains are late. We want to see much tighter controls on performance and we don't like the way passengers are compensated if their trains are late."

Lewes MP Norman Baker said: "What we are seeing is the results of clapped-out rolling stock and no investment in the rail infrastructure. If we are to see improved services we must have cast iron guarantees the rail infrastructure will be improved when the new franchise is awarded. We need to see a new railway built."

Connex SouthCentral, which runs the majority of trains in Sussex including the London to Brighton service, fares badly in the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (SSRA) league for its performance.

Its South London lines scored 89.9 per cent for punctuality and 99 per cent for reliability, putting it in the C category. South Coast lines scored 84.3 per cent for punctuality and 99.2 per cent for reliability, putting it in the D category.

David Ewart, a spokes-man for Connex, said: "This report shows that average reliability on the Sussex coast has been maintained, but punctuality has fallen by 2.4 per cent, which is 2.7 per cent below our charter standard. We are carrying more passengers than ever before on Sixties trains on an infrastructure dating from Victorian times."

He added that the company had ordered 120 new trains for the Sussex coast routes.

On Tuesday the SSRA announced the battle to run most train services in Sussex would be a two horse race between Connex and Thameslink.

SSRA chief executive Mike Grant said: "I appreciate that overall punctuality levels are failing to match passengers' expectations and that much remains to be done.

"The process of franchise replacement the SSRA has embarked upon requires improved performance as one of its principal aims. I propose to double incentive regimes in the new franchises to achieve that."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.