Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of trains (a) cancelled and (b) delayed have not seen Govia Thameslink Railway financially penalised in the last three years.

Under their Franchise Agreements, an operator is entitled to claim relief from their cancellations benchmark where they can demonstrate that their action was taken in order to recover the service following disruption. Additionally, an operator may also claim relief from cancellations and delay benchmarks for incidents subject to Force Majeure.

Since the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise started in September 2014, no more than 18% of cancellations that GTR were responsible for and which count towards their benchmarks were accepted as Service Recovery or Force Majeure. In that time, 0.6% of delays were accepted as Force Majeure. These delays and cancellations will not count towards the Schedule 7.1 performance regime contained in the Franchise Agreement.

In addition, the Track Access Agreement between Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway includes performance regimes in relation to cancellations and delays which result in an incentive or penalty payment depending on who caused the delay or cancellation of the services, and how each organisation is performing against their own benchmark. All trains which are timetabled to operate in passenger service are subject to this performance regime.