The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) accused the company yesterday of dragging its feet and failing to fulfil its commitments, leaving passengers to endure severe overcrowding on many routes.

Network Rail compiled a list of 171 urgent projects but could name only five where work had begun.

The company spent only £4 million last year of its £50 million annual budget for small schemes costing up to £5 million, such as extra platforms at cramped stations, a second track on single-track sections of line and new junctions to allow trains to cross at higher speeds.

This year Network Rail plans to spend £26 million, leaving a total of £70 million unspent over the two years.

The money was awarded by the Government in response to rapidly increasing demand for passenger and freight services. More than a billion rail journeys were made last year, the highest number since 1958, when the network was twice the size.

In its quarterly report on Network Rail’s performance, the ORR said: “Network Rail’s delivery of some investment schemes, particularly small-scale schemes, is lagging well behind both its own plans and industry expectations.”

The ORR demanded that Network Rail produce a clear delivery programme identifying specific schemes and giving completion dates.

It said part of the problem was Network Rail’s insistence that all spending on even the smallest schemes should be approved by a single committee.

Michael Lee, the ORR’s head of monitoring, said: “It all has to go through the centre across one committee. I don’t think it’s sustainable in the long run. They need to get their skates on.”

Network Rail has started work on capacity improvements at Peterborough, Coventry, Basingstoke, Tunbridge Wells and Tyseley, near Birmingham.

But many of the most urgently needed schemes are still at the planning stage, such as extra platforms at Manchester Airport and Bristol Parkway, extra tracks on the Waterloo to Exeter line, and lengthening platforms at Bexleyhill, Sidcup and Dartmouth to allow 12-car trains.

Passenger Focus, the rail passenger watchdog, described Network Rail’s progress as disappointing.

Anthony Smith, its chief executive, said: “These schemes involve relatively small amounts of money but would make a big difference to passengers by relieving bottlenecks. In many cases they would put back the capacity which British Rail was forced to strip out to reduce costs.

“It takes time to work up schemes but we will be very concerned if this level of underspending continues.”

Network Rail said it planned to increase its spending on capacity improvements next year and the year after that.

COULD DO BETTER

Main findings by the Office of Rail Regulation:

# Train delays caused by infrastructure rose for the past four consecutive months compared with the same months last year

# Points failures have risen by 7 per cent in the first six months of this year

# Delays caused by faults in overhead lines and third rails rose by 25 per cent 80 per cent of passengers are happy with their rail journey but only 50 per cent are satisfied with station facilities

# Rail workers suffered 175 serious injuries in the first nine months this year compared with 332 in 2005