New trains on the Furness and Lakes lines have been let down by continued problems with services, councillors have complained.

Northern Rail rolled out Class 195 diesel-electric trains in summer as part of a £500 million investment.

But service reliability across South Cumbria remains patchy, a meeting of South Lakeland District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee heard.

“The new trains are very good, they are better quality and they have improved but there aren’t enough of them and they don’t run reliably enough,” Councillor Doug Rathbone told councillors.

“They are too short and we also still have issues that there are many cancellations.

“The additional problem is the long-term lack of Sunday working by the crews.

“The reliability is not to the level that we should expect in this area or to a level that helps the economy of this area.”

Coun Rathbone, a Liberal Democrat representing Kendal Town and Rural, has acted as the go-between SLDC, rail groups and service operators Northern.

He said local councillors serving Furness and South Lakeland rail passengers had an increasing list of questions about services.

The sub-committee now plans to call Northern bosses to a scrutiny meeting in January to answer questions.

Coun Rathbone said: “We will be making sure they know the importance of coming here. This is an opportunity for members to raise questions and issues regarding the Furness and Lakes line.”

Ulverston councillor Mark Wilson said community rail partnerships had a role to play in the scrutiny of performance as well as local councillors.

“They produce figures such as how many trains were 10 minutes late and so on and so on,”  he said. “There are people out there who like to keep a close eye on these figures and they can add up to a damning report.”

Earlier this month, Furness Line Action Group said it hoped the company had turned a corner.

It followed the weekend airport service seeing no cancellations or late arrivals for the first time in four months, following the introduction of a new timetable in June.

Northern has said that Cumbria customers were among the first to benefit from the new trains with a number of discount schemes to provide better value for money and as a thanks to people’s patience.