Southern Rail passengers to be paid compensation for disruptions

Southern Rail are compensating over 84,000 passengers for the disruptions caused by the Network Rail track failures, engineering works, unacceptable poor performance and the actions of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union.

The trainline’s operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have apologised for “many months of disruption and misery”.

One month's travel will be awarded to annual season ticket holders and quarterly, monthly and weekly season ticket holders will be able to claim an equivalent payment for the ticket type in January 2017.

Rail minister Paul Maynard said: "When things do go wrong it is right that we compensate people who have not had the service that they deserve."

The railway has also announced that it was introducing a more generous Delay Repay scheme on the Southern and the Gatwick Express from 11 December which will compensate passengers for delays of more than 15 minutes rather than the current 30 minutes.

It did however say Southern and Gatwick Express fares would rise by an average of 1.8% from 2 January 2017, which is in line with other train operators’ annual increases, according to the operator.

The RMT union, which has held a long series of strikes this year has said the fare hikes are “another kick in the the teeth for Britis passengers.”

Union chief Mick Cash said passengers were continuing to pay some of the highest fares in Europe to travel on "rammed-out and unreliable trains".

"Once again the rip-off private train companies are laughing all the way to the bank as they whack up fares and axe staff in an all-out dash to maximise their profits."

The network is expecting further disruption throughout December with several strike planned by two unions, the RMT and Aslef.