Payouts due for rail chiefs

Rail chiefs are today on course for more huge bonuses - despite one in five trains failing to arrive on time.

Latest figures from Network Rail - responsible for the tracks, signals and power supplies - show there has been a 16 per cent cut in train delays for which it is responsible in the six months to the end of September.

But NR said that much more needed to be done to produce a railway which passengers had a "right" to expect.

The "not for dividend" company also made a ?225million operating profit and cut its costs by ?70 million in the half year. Maintaining similar progress over the next six months would put senior executives of the body that replaced Railtrack on target for bonuses of tens of thousands of pounds each.

The company's 15,000 other staff could also get bonuses of hundreds of pounds a head. Trains run late for two principal reasons - a breakdown of the train, for which the operator is responsible, or when the tracks and signals, which NR looks after, are at fault. At the moment the blame is shared about evenly.

John Armitt, NR chief executive and one of those in line for a bonus, admitted there was still a long way to go despite a record £5billion a year being poured into improving the railways.

The reduction in delays meant that 81.8 per cent of trains were arriving "on time" by September, up from 81.2 per cent in March. The figure increased again to 82 per cent by mid-October and the company aims to hit 90 per cent by March 2009.

The financial and operational improvements mean that boardroom bonuses for the current financial year are almost certain to be up. In June, it was revealed that five NR executives shared £436,780 of bonus payments - worth 24 per cent of their salary - on top of their annual wage.

This was awarded for improvements made to the infrastructure for the year ending in March. The group's 15,000 other staff qualified for bonuses of about £600 each. NR bosses received the huge payments despite losses of £758 million last year and failing to meet punctuality targets.

Chief executive John Armitt received £112,300 on top of his basic wage of £450,000. Iain Coucher, his deputy, was paid £99,840 and a salary of £400,000. The five executives could, under their contracts, have received a 32 per cent bonus for meeting two of their three targets. But NR, which was formed to replace Railtrack in 2002, said it had decided to limit awards to 24 per cent.

NR is blamed by the passenger train companies for about half - in some areas far more - of train delays when the tracks, signals and power supplies break down.