Commuter misery could be no more if ministers kicked "vulture" rail privateers into the dustbin of history, rail unions said yesterday.

Their remarks came as the Office for Rail Regulation (ORR) launched a stinging attack on Network Rail (NR), which was formally returned to public ownership earlier this year.

The regulator admitted that it had underpredicted the number of late trains by a whopping 50,000 - and it took aim at track owner NR for failing to deliver on its massive enhancements programme.

ORR chief executive Richard Price said that too many people were facing "too many delays.

"It is the biggest source of dissatisfaction with the railways, and the industry needs to tackle the problem," he said.

And he raised concern about the reliability of the figures provided by NR.

"Without up-to-date knowledge NR will not have sufficient understanding of how and why its assets fail and its maintenance approach will remain reactive, leading to inefficiencies and hindering its efforts to improve punctuality," he added.

Transport union TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes urged ministers to "up their game."

And RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "All the time that our rail network is seen as an open door to a fast buck by greedy speculators, reliability and safety will take a back seat.

"The answer is to end two decades of profiteering and exploitation and return to an integrated and publicly-owned railway run in the public interest."