He wrote that he and senior colleagues “have spoken to and corresponded with many customers as well as meeting with a high proportion of MPs along the route.”

And guess what, they have decided to improve the compensation package for season ticket holders (annual season ticket holders will now get a 7 percent discount and weekly ticket holders a further two free tickets).  He also announced investment in trains and also in better communications technology for staff when future problems happen.

Anyone would think there was an election in the offing.

Perhaps they are finally smelling the coffee.  But it has come so late that it will do little to quell the fury of travellers.

I am knocking on doors across the constituency and the feedback is the same everywhere.  Only last evening I met a voter in London Colney who told me that she had lost a promotion at work because of her problems getting into work on time over so many months – and this is just one voter among many.

This announcement still provides for less than one month’s free travel for annual ticket holders.  It still does absolutely nothing for regular off-peak travellers for whom it does not make sense to buy season tickets because they work from home some days a week or their work demands that they travel outside peak hours.

The Delay Repay scheme so trumpeted by FCC is despised by everyone for its complexity and meannesss.

As for the announcements on train and station investment, this is what they should be doing as franchisee.  It is welcome to have the confirmation that improvements are finally underway, but for many it will feel like bolting the stable door.

The 14 December temporary timetable still shows a reduction of 30% in the advertised train service – hardly an improvement on the previous timetable which was a reduction of 38%.

Apparently drivers at two of the three depots on the Thameslink route have returned to normal working.  But if you read some of the comments posted on the self-styled “First Crapital Connect” website (mordantly funny but with a powerful string of passenger comment), even when drivers are making themselves available to work on rest days thay are not always being found things to do.

Nor does it look particularly optimistic on the compensation front apart from the almost meaningless industry standard “delay repay” for 30 minutes or over.

They seem to have ruled out ticket extensions because of the impact on other operators.  And if cash refunds are offered, it seems that we the taxpayer will be paying most of the money rather than FirstGroup because of the hideously complicated revenue support arrangements under the franchise.

I cannot do better (or worse) than quote the APTU newsletter:

The issue in this case is “Revenue Support” – often known as “Cap and Collar”.  This is a feature of franchise contracts where the operator receives monies from the Government if revenue is short of expectation (as defined in the contract) – and conversely, pays an additional fee if revenues exceed those expected.  The exact rules and precise amounts at which it kicks in are shrouded in mystery (“commercially confidential” is usually claimed), but it is clear that FCC are now receiving the maximum amounts payable, so for every £1 reduction in revenue, 80p is paid by the Department for Transport (or, to be more accurate, the tax payer).  If we are to be reimbursed, 80p in every £1 will therefore, in effect, come from the government.

The whole thing is simply surreal.  We have to keep pushing for proper compensation but First Group will have to do a lot to persuade me that they should ever be granted a rail franchise again – and any future franchises must have much tougher sanctions to protect passenger interests.