Trains run late, but railway bosses net £350,000 bonus pot for 'satisfied passengers'

 
BonuseS: David Higgins, left got £99,082 on top of his salary, and Group finance director Patrick Butcher got a £67,658 bonus

Rail bosses faced a backlash today after pocketing bonuses of up to £100,000 despite failing to meet key punctuality targets.

MPs condemned the bonuses for five top executives at Network Rail which totalled more than £350,000 for 2012/13.

Chief executive David Higgins got the biggest special payout, of £99,082, on top of a current salary of £577,000.

Group finance director Patrick Butcher got a £67,658 bonus, with his salary being £394,000.

Robin Gisby, the managing director for network operations and Simon Kirby, the managing director for infrastructure projects, both on £371,000, each got bonuses of £63,708.

While Paul Plummer, the group strategy director, received a payment of £59,759, to boost his £348,000 salary.

Former transport minister Karen Buck said: “Londoners will be stunned to discover that Network Rail bosses are in line for massive pay-outs despite failing to meet core punctuality targets.

The Labour MP for Westminster North added: “Surely commuters feel that punctuality along with safety are the most important things a railway service should deliver.”

Harrow West Labour MP Gareth Thomas added: “It is difficult to see what possible justification there can be for such huge bonuses when Network Rail aren’t meeting basic targets for getting the trains to run on time.”

But Network Rail chairman Richard Parry-Jones strongly defended the bonuses.

He said: “2012 was a year of positive progress for the company with some great highs – delivering seamless transport for the Olympics – to lows of frustration with a slowdown in our rate of delivering better train punctuality.

“While this was particularly impacted by a year of extreme weather, the wettest on record, we are working to improve the resilience of our network to cope with such demands.”

He insisted the payments “correctly” reflect the company’s successes as well as shortcomings.

They amounted to 17 per cent of salary of the top executives out of a maximum of 60 per cent.

The bosses got no bonuses for train punctuality, with targets for both passenger and freight missed.

The renumeration committee also cut them by ten per cent because it felt more could have been done to improve workforce safety.

But the payments were awarded for passenger satisfaction, a measure which Network Rail stressed was independently measured, customer satisfaction (of train operating companies), progress on investment projects, cost efficiencies and asset stewardship.

Mr Parry-Jones added: “The remuneration committee felt that while performance was good in most areas, truly exceptional performance had not been achieved in financial efficiency and asset stewardship, and our train performance targets were not met. But we also needed to recognise the significant successes that had been delivered in the business during the year.”

The bonuses are also far smaller than those last awarded, in 2009/10, when the highest was £348,000.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, stressed: “We welcome the fact that Network Rail takes note of passenger satisfaction when setting bonuses. However, passengers are probably more concerned about value for money rail fares on punctual, reliable and frequent train services than they are about bonuses.”

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