Railways: Compensation

(asked on 7th January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to introduce automatic compensation for rail passengers in respect of (a) delays and (b) poor service.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 13th January 2020

The Department is working with the rail industry to introduce more automated Delay Repay compensation schemes across all DfT franchises to make claiming for delays easier, by notifying passengers where possible that they are eligible for compensation. Five DfT franchises now offer automated Delay Repay schemes, including smartcard holders on Govia Thameslink. This forms part of government’s commitment to significantly improve compensation for passengers when things go wrong, as announced by the previous Secretary of State in October 2018.

In their Passenger’s Charters, most TOCs offer more than the minimum standard for passenger compensation as set out in the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT). TOCs can, at their discretion, go beyond the commitments in their Passenger’s Charter on a case by case basis to compensate for poor service.

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