| Re: How do the costs of delay/repay compare to the cost of reducing delays? Posted by TaplowGreen at 16:21, 28th June 2025 |     |
What would be useful is a breakdown of that figure.
Delay Repay does not only cover cancellations but also delays to services that do run. These could be caused by a multitude of reasons, delays caused by other GWR trains, delays caused by other companies trains, freight trains, passengers, trespassers, weather - things that investing more money is unlikely to solve.
The figures also show what GWR paid out - some of it may be for delays caused by other Train Operating Companies which led to missed GWR connections etc.
Delay Repay does not only cover cancellations but also delays to services that do run. These could be caused by a multitude of reasons, delays caused by other GWR trains, delays caused by other companies trains, freight trains, passengers, trespassers, weather - things that investing more money is unlikely to solve.
The figures also show what GWR paid out - some of it may be for delays caused by other Train Operating Companies which led to missed GWR connections etc.
Delay/Repay is all ultimately funded by the taxpayer however isn't it?
| Re: How do the costs of delay/repay compare to the cost of reducing delays? Posted by bobm at 15:05, 28th June 2025 | |
What would be useful is a breakdown of that figure.
Delay Repay does not only cover cancellations but also delays to services that do run. These could be caused by a multitude of reasons, delays caused by other GWR trains, delays caused by other companies trains, freight trains, passengers, trespassers, weather - things that investing more money is unlikely to solve.
The figures also show what GWR paid out - some of it may be for delays caused by other Train Operating Companies which led to missed GWR connections etc.
| How do the costs of delay/repay compare to the cost of reducing delays? Posted by grahame at 12:00, 28th June 2025 | |
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay
In the four weeks from 2nd to 31st March 2025, there were 107,097 Delay Repay claims of which 83% were approved. The total value of the compensation was nearly £2 million pounds.
If the delayed journeys caused by cancellations could be - say - halved, how much would it cost? Looking at the immediate economics of today's cancellation of two round trips on the Swindon to Westbury line, how much is paid out in delay / repay, how much revenue is lost because people don't even book, and how much extra is paid out for taxis and bus drivers for rail replacement services?
Looking beyond the immediate daily cost, how much damage is done to the railway being people's standard choice to make the journey and its reputation? What is the cost of that over months and years?
I would line to see Delay/Repay costing just a tenth of the current level - not because I don't like the scheme, but is should be the exception that things go so wrong that they get some of their money back. Each refund - over 22 thousand of them every week - represents a failure to deliver a published service, and a loss of faith / significant delay for a member of the public.
Put in another way - how far would over £20 million pounds per annum go to getting us a reliable GWR service?
