South Western Railway passengers will now be able to apply for compensation if their journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more.

Down from the previous threshold of 30 minutes, the Delay Repay scheme offers a refund of 25 per cent for delays between 15 and 29 minutes as of December 1.

Christian Neill, head of customer experience for South Western Railway, said: “We recognise that every minute counts if you’re travelling by train – especially for busy commuters.

“Sometimes, unfortunately, things do go wrong, and we want to ensure fair compensation is offered to our passengers in these cases. Today’s launch of our scheme to compensate passengers if their journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more shows our commitment to improving the South Western Railway customer experience.”

Longer delays will remain compensated at the same rate as before.

Delay Repay can be claimed online, via the SWR app or by post.