DELAYS and cancellations on the beleaguered West Anglia rail route are set to continue for weeks, despite repair work over Christmas.

WAGN, which operates the London to Cambridge service out of Liverpool Street Station, is yet to receive notification from Railtrack on the duration of speed restrictions on the line.

The restrictions were imposed nationally by Railtrack following the Hatfield derailment in October.

Maintenance crews have been busy repairing rail affected by hairline fractures, but despite work done over the Christmas period, restrictions have not been lifted.

Julian Drury, general manager of the route, said: "West Anglia punctuality did improve dramatically just before Christmas and since then services have been operating much more reliably.

"However, we do still want all the speed restrictions permanently removed, so we are disappointed that we have not been able to start the New Year with good news that the end really is in sight."

Bishop's Stortford Rail Travellers Association spokesman John Boughton said delays were "quite bad" on the route during peak travelling hours.

He said: "The real question is why this situation was allowed to develop. There are a number of unanswerables, and the poor condition of the track is only one of the problems."