1,700 Southern Rail trains late last month, but commuters could only claim compensation for 59 of them

The statistic shows just how inappropriate Southern Rail’s compensation scheme is.

Figures for January released by rail watchdog Delay Repay Sniper reveal 52% of the total of 3,466 journeys to and from Brighton and London Victoria were in some way late or delayed.

In total, passengers endured 13,459 minutes of delays – that is 224 hours or 9.3 days.

Broken down, 908 out of 1,655 services from Brighton to Victoria were classed as late.

On the return leg from Victoria to Brighton, 896 out of 1811 services were late.

Southern’s compensation criteria means that those put out by the company’s poor performance can only claim if they are 30 minutes late. If a train is 29 minutes late – they are entitled to nothing.

The criteria also resulted in passengers of last year’s 7.29am Brighton to London Victoria service, which The Argus revealed was late every day last year, only being able to claim for four out of 240 trips.

That is despite the 7.29am service suffering a total of one day, two hours and nine minutes of delays in the 12 months.

Sarah Dalby, director of Delay Repay Sniper, said: “Every day we receive emails from commuters who ask us if they can claim for consistent late-running services that don’t hit the 30-minute mark.

“There doesn’t seem to be any accountability if a company runs a service poorly, other than maybe losing the franchise at the end of the contract. Until rail providers are held accountable, we’re unlikely to see delayed train times fall any time soon.”

The new revelations come as union leaders claim Southern received up to £14 million of public money from Network Rail for disruptions on the line in 2013/14.

However, The Argus can reveal Southern passed on only £1.4 million to passengers in compensation in the period.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) told The Argus Network Rail handed out £140 million in taxpayers’ cash to the UK’s train operators in 2013/14.

While the money does not have to be passed on to passengers, the tens of thousands who use the service are the ones hit by the delays.

Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA union, called for a review to “end the injustice” of the refund scheme in which he claims “rail firms get millions and passengers get pennies”.

He said: “The rail firms get compensation when their trains are more than a minute late but passengers only get 50% ticket refunds if their trains are 30 minutes late and only get 100% if they are an hour late.

“This means the franchises are making over £100 million in profit out of passenger misery. The same refund rules on timing should apply for both train firms and their passengers.”

MPs have also piled the pressure on rail chiefs.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, quizzed train bosses and Rail Minister Claire Perry at a meeting in London last week.

Ms Lucas said: “Network Rail and the rail companies were asked to explain themselves. The compensation systems are woefully inadequate. When delays and cancellations do happen, passengers must be swiftly and fully compensated.

“That isn’t happening – we need to hold operators to account to ensure a significant proportion of those funds are passed on to passengers.”

The MP is to ask Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin to ensure a duty for rail companies to pass compensation on.

Aside from rail operators pocketing cash, figures show passengers are unaware they are entitled to compensation.

A 2013 Passenger Focus survey found that only 12% of those eligible for compensation claimed it.

During last week’s meeting, rail bosses said the patience of railway passengers was wearing thin and pledged to do better.

But the words will provide no solace to commuters who are hit hardest.

Southern earned more than £700 million in revenue in 2013. Its parent company Govia – jointly-owned by the French National Railway company Keolis – last year received more than £700 million in net public subsidies from taxpayers.

Its shareholders also enjoyed more than £21 million in dividends.

The Department for Transport told The Argus it “did not know” exactly how much Southern received in compensation payments from Network Rail in 2013/14.

Network Rail also said the information was “commercially sensitive”.

A spokesman for TSSA said: “Network Rail will not give a company by company breakdown on how much it pays in compensation.

“They say, disingenuously, they don’t have the information and that they pay compensation on routes, not companies.

“What they don’t want is people doing the sums and working out how much profit firms make from the scheme. As one of the busiest franchises, Southern probably got over £15 million from Network Rail in 2014 but only paid out £1.4 million to punters.

“Southern Rail and Network Rail have a conspiracy of silence on how much it takes from the taxpayer and keeps from its punters.”

Southern Rail said the amount it receives from Network Rail in compensation for delays and the amount it gives its customers for delays “should not be compared”.

A spokesman said: “Compensation from Network Rail to train operators is set on a formula basis designed to compensate the train operator for the future loss of revenue arising from disruption, including any longer-term loss of revenue from a sustained period of poor performance.

“It also compensates for any additional costs incurred during disruption, such as replacement buses. It does not include provision for compensation costs to passengers.

“Compensation paid by train operators to passengers for delays is based on an entirely different system, in line with the terms of the operator’s Passenger’s Charter.

“We operate a Delay Repay compensation system, under which compensation for delay is paid regardless of whether the delay was attributed to Network Rail or Southern or another train operator.”

Other Sussex MPs were angry about the situation.

Simon Kirby, Tory MP for Brighton Kemptown, said: “The service in recent months has been unacceptable. I made the rail companies very aware of my constituents’ feelings.”

Sir Nicholas Soames, Conservative MP for Mid Sussex, said: “ All MPs present were in total agreement about the wholly unacceptable state of the service and the need for better compensation.

“I have insisted, and all the companies have agreed, that they will publish monthly reports against their new programme of improvements so that passengers will be aware of future works.”

Sarah Dalby, of Delay Repay Sniper, added: “Commuters can enter their regular stations and train routes on the DRS website free and will receive the history of the route over the last 30 days.”

l For details on how to claim compensation, visit delayrepaysniper.com

RAIL COMPANIES REPLY TO CLAIMS

A Southern spokesman said: “Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway [GTR] and Southern are working together to improve performance on one of the most congested railways in the country.

“Our passengers have not been getting the service they expect from us and for this we apologise.
“More than 3,000 trains a day run on the line linking London to the Sussex coast and, in recent years, as demand has grown, performance has declined.

"This also affects Thameslink north of London.

“The rebuilding of London Bridge as part of the Thameslink Programme, which will ultimately bring vitally needed extra capacity to the route, has added an additional strain with fewer routes into and out of the station.”

Dave Ward, of Network Rail, said:  “Trains should arrive when we say and all of us know we need to deliver on that.

“More than a million people use London Bridge every week, and keeping them moving whilst rebuilding the station has been a huge challenge.

“We have been working with the operators to produce an improvement plan and we have already started tackling key issues.”

Charles Horton, managing director of Southern and chief executive officer of GTR, which operates Thameslink services, said: “Together we have already tackled some issues, including making some changes to the timetable to ease the pressure at London Bridge.

“Today’s improvement plan is the beginning of the journey to make things better, and we will keep passengers updated as we move forward.”

THE ARGUS SAYS

Quite simply, what is happening here is not good enough.

Passengers are getting a raw deal with ever-increasing rail fares, services that will only arrive on time at the flip of a coin and a compensation system not fit for purpose.

What is even more alarming is the fact that Southern handed out only £1.4 million in compensation last year for late trains – but unions claim they pocketed a cool £14 million from Network Rail in disruption payments.

They are not obliged to pass on any of that cash. But when commuters suffer to the extent that we see today, it is nothing short of an insult if the company is not digging deeper into its pockets.

Another concern that would be laughable if it were not so serious, is the fact that neither the Government, Network Rail nor Southern Rail will confirm how much the latter received from the taxpayer in compensation for late and cancelled trains due to infrastructure problems.

Unions claim there is a conspiracy of silence. When three separate organisations, including two government bodies, do not want to spill the beans, it is hard to argue with the union’s assessment.

It is an outrage.