Virgin Trains received a £358 Million pound payout from Network Rail for more than a decade of disruption on the West Coast Main Line. Out of the £358m only 15% of this was passed onto passengers.
The figures were recently revealed by Network Rail. It confirmed it has paid train operator Virgin Trains £588m for the delays caused during the upgrade to the West Coast Main Line. Virgin Trains being the biggest operator, was awarded the most compensation, which it has been revealed that £53m (15%) of the funds were paid out in refunds to passengers.
Virgin trains claim that a large proportion of the compensation that was received was used to pay for operating costs which include replacement bus services.
Network Rail said the compensation payments, which are underwritten by the taxpayer, could have been avoided with a £100m investment in extra lines that could have bypassed work around vital junctions such as Rugby.