Rail passengers struggling since the introduction of new timetables by Northern have been told to expect compensation.
AdvertisementRail minister Jo Johnson told BBC North West Tonight travellers could expect cash compensation ‘to the value of one month’s travel’.
No details have been given yet on who will be eligible, which routes and how the amount is to be calculated.
Mr Johnson said: “It’s absolutely vital that passengers who’ve suffered these disruptions get the compensation they deserve and I’m pleased to be able to confirm that Northern passengers will receive cash compensation to the value of one month’s travel for everyone on those heavily affected routes.”
Northern introduced a temporary timetable in early June, cutting hundreds of services per week, blaming over-running engineering works and a lack of fully trained train drivers.
It has left many commuters, particularly on the Preston to Manchester lines, facing hours of delays.
Managing director of Northern David Brown said: “We welcome the announcement from the Rail Minister on the additional compensation scheme. We believe that this is the best way to say sorry for the unacceptable situation and for the disruption and inconvenience many passengers have faced. We have been working hard with Network Rail and The Department for Transport to develop this scheme to help customers who have suffered in these exceptional circumstances.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. We are now looking at the finer details of the scheme and will announce further details as soon as possible.”
“We already offer a Delay Repay scheme to compensate customers for trains that are late or cancelled and as a result get to their destination station more than 30 minutes later than scheduled. We’d urge affected customers to use Delay Repay.
“To further support customers, we’ve reached an agreement with other rail operators that until 29 July, customers with tickets to travel on Northern will be able to travel on services provided by other rail operators if they are unable to complete their journey due to delays or cancellations.”
Read more: Northern train carriage left covered in graffiti
Blog Preston joined media titles across the North in joining the #OneNorth campaign which demands full compensation for Northern commuters and better infrastructure and investment in the North’s railways.
Since then more than 17,000 people have signed a petition calling on Theresa May to intervene and ‘get a grip’ on the situation.
How has your commute been? Are you using the trains? Let us know in the comments below