Bosses at failing train companies have issued grovelling apologies for letting down passengers in recent months.
Facing a grilling from MPs on Wednesday, a representative from Avanti West Coast admitted the firm had "damaged trust" with the public.
Richard Scott, Director of Corporate Affairs at the West Coast Partnership, said: "The service we have provided over recent months has not been good enough."
"We apologise, I apologise unreservedly for that," he told the Commons' Transport Committee.
Matthew Golton, the Managing Director at First TransPennine Express, also told the Committee the operator was sorry for letting "customers and communities down".
He added: "But we are very, very clear that what we have to do over the next few months is get this timetable performing more reliably and make a significant inroad into the number of cancellations.
"That's what we're going to do."
Nick Donovan, managing director at Northern, also claimed that staff sickness and absence is responsible for around 70% of the cancellations caused by internal factors.
In the three months to September, just 38.8% of Avanti West Coast trains were on time, according to the Office for Road and Rail.
The figure from TransPennine Express stood at 55.8% while Northern's was 66.7% for trains running on time.
Pressed on why Avanti should still be allowed to run the service, Mr Scott later told MPs: "We have been working extremely hard over the last few months to get a new timetable in place.
"I accept fully we have damaged trust in the travelling public over coming months and it will take time to get back.
"But the timetable, new rosters, new diagrams that are in place I believe will allow us to do that".
Earlier this year Sir Keir Starmer called for Avanti to be stripped of its west coast contract if it did not improve.
The Labour leader blasted the service as "simply not good enough".
At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday Rishi Sunak was also urged by a Tory MP to cancel Avanti's franchise if they "do not get their act together".
In response, Mr Sunak said: "Our priority immediately is to support the restoration of services before then making any long-term decisions on the operation of the West Coast franchise, but we will be closely monitoring Avanti's rollout of its recovery plan and holding them to account for delivering for passengers."
