RAIL operator Northern could have its franchise terminated if its performance does not improve.

That was the message from Transport Secretary Chris Grayling after travellers expressed increasing concerns about delays and cancellations in the area, particularly on the Furness line.

"We are watching and, we will continue to watch very carefully, Northern’s performance in all respects, and I expect it to deliver on what it has have committed to deliver," Mr Grayling told MPs on the Commons' Transport Select Committee.

“Fundamentally, the infrastructure in the North is not up to handling the needs of a modern commuter railway, and that’s what it needs to be.”

Northern recently invested £500m into its services as part of a modernisation programme which includes the refurbishment of its existing fleet of 243 trains.

However, the new fleet of 195 class trains have come in for criticism with passengers claiming numerous delays have resulted from problems with the new trains.

Richard Murgatroyd of Grange-over-Sands said he had been late for work on several occasions and reliability was becoming a major issue.

"I’m a teacher at a special school in Lancaster and I have been late to work too often and this is having an impact on the pupils and my job," he said.

Mr Murgatroyd said it was his belief Northern had "cut corners" while ordering new stock.

"There's no doubt the new units are a vast improvement on the old ones, but there seem to be persistent delays and breakdowns caused by technical problems, especially with the doors," he said.

And Northern have also come under criticism after a South Lakeland District Council sub-committee heard that though the number of direct Barrow to Manchester trains was increased to 11 per day, the new services were not attracting sufficient numbers of passengers.

Cllr Doug Rathbone, who has acted as the go-between the council and train bosses, suggested people were not using the trains as they had lost their trust in Northern.

“Dare I say they still no longer trust Northern to provide the service they were franchised to provide?,” he said.

Cllr Rathbone said the ‘loss of confidence’ in train services would take more to win back than the offer of temporary discounts and short-term cheap train tickets.

The meeting heard that in terms of trains being on time, the Furness service so far had an 83 per cent success rate and the Lakes Line had notched up 96 per cent.