Rail chiefs accused of £140MILLION compensation rip-off over late and cancelled trains

The TSSA rail union said train companies were last year paid £167million as compensation by taxpayer-funded Network Rail for delays to their services.

But in the same period the train companies paid out just £22.2 million to passengers for disrupted journeys.

Earlier this month official figures showed that passengers suffered 200,000 train cancellations last year, including 90,000 on the busiest commuter lines in the South east.

And the Rail Regulator said the industry has to make it easier for passengers to get compensation for late running or cancelled trains.

Under the industry's rules train firms automatically get compensation from NR if a train is five minutes late.

But passengers have to apply for compensation and only become eligible for a partial pay out if their train is 30 minutes late.

They only qualify for a full refund if their service is an hour or more behind schedule.

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "These firms are acting like modern day Robin Hoods in reverse.

"For every eight pounds they got from the taxpayer, they only paid out £1 to passengers.

"They take from the poor traveller to make themselves even richer. Its the economics of the madhouse.

"The dice is loaded against passengers in favour of the private rail firms."

He added: "We have to stop this rip off and have a level playing field" added the union leader.

"If the likes of billionaires like Sir Richard Branson at Virgin gets compensation when his trains run five minutes late, then so should his passengers.

"We are no longer living in the Downton Abbey era when the rich travelled first class and the poor travelled in third.

We want a equal refund system which treats everyone the same."

But the Rail Regulator said there was no linkage between the two compensation schemes, with the "Schedule 8" payments from Network Rail to train firms designed to encourage it to improve its performance.

In a report earlier this year the Rail Regulator said: "There is no direct linkage between the two, with Schedule 8 relating to the compensation and incentive arrangements between train companies and Network Rail, and the passenger facing arrangements being a means of compensating passengers for delays to their journeys."

The industry umbrella body, the Rail Delivery Group, said compensation payouts to passengers had nearly doubled in the past year.

A spokesman said: "Despite more journeys being made punctually, compensation paid to passengers under the Delay Repay scheme has increased by £10m in the last year.

"Payments are increasingly generous and easy to apply for and are made regardless of the cause of a delay.

"Passenger compensation is completely unrelated to the rail regulator's scheme where payments between Network Rail and operators are designed to discourage delays and encourage punctuality.

"When delays occur it disrupts people's journeys and can put them off travelling altogether, hitting train company revenues and the amount operators pay back to government for investment in the railway.

"Payments between operators and Network Rail reflect this."