Southern Rail owner fined £13.4m over delays

southern rail

The operator of Southern Rail will spend more than £13m on “customer improvements” after reaching an agreement with the Department for Transport, reports The Telegraph.

The Go-Ahead group, which has experienced 18 months of disruption due to repeated industrial action, said the payments were a result of the impact of those strikes on train performance.

But the RMT union lashed out at the payment, calling it a “pathetic response” that “does not even stack up to a slap on the wrist”. The company also operates the Thameslink and Great Northern franchises through its Govia Thameslink Railway subsidiary.

Go-Ahead said the £13.4m payment was “in line with the financial judgements made by management” and would therefore not affect full-year expectations.