Rail passengers are being promised compensation after the recent rail timetabling fiasco left many struggling to get to work on time.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the rail industry believed “until the last moment” that it could successfully introduce the new timetables which failed and led to chaos.

He accepted people would find that “hard to understand”, amid mass cancellations and delays on Northern Rail services and others.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Grayling said: “The rail industry has collectively failed to deliver for the passengers it serves.

“It’s right that the industry has apologised for the situation that we are currently in and that we learn the lessons for the future.”

Here’s what he announced:

On compensation:

A compensation scheme will be introduced for passengers on affected routes , funded by the industry. It is subject to agreement with the board of Transport for the North.

Further details are to be announced, including the eligibility requirements, but Mr Grayling says it should offer passengers a similar compensation scheme to those offered after the Southern Rail issues last year.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling speaking in the House of Commons in central London about the new train timetables which have caused major disruptions

There, it’s reported passengers affected received around £200 each.

Southern’s compensation scheme offers varying amounts depending on the length of delay and ticket.

For season ticket holders the cost of the season ticket is divided by 464 with compensation as follows: if you’re delayed by: 15-29 minutes you’re entitled to 25% of the cost of a single journey; 30-59 minutes you’re entitled to 50% of the cost of a single journey; 60-119 minutes you’re entitled to 100% of the cost of a single journey; 120+ minutes you’re entitled to 100% of the cost of a return journey (a full day’s travel).

The percentages are the same for day ticket holders and based on the affected portion of the delay (i.e not the price of a return if delayed one way).

On Northern’s franchise contract:

Mr Grayling announced that the Department for Transport would assess whether Northern “met their contractual obligations in the planning and delivery of this timetable change”.

On Northern and TransPennine:

Northern have said sorry to passengers for the “unacceptable” state of its services.

Mr Grayling said: “This timetable change was intended to deliver the benefits to passengers of major investment in the rail network. On Northern, which is co-managed through the Rail North Partnership by Transport for the North and my department, early analysis shows that the key issue was that Network Rail did not deliver infrastructure upgrades in time – in particular the Bolton electrification scheme – with damaging consequences. This forced plans to be changed at a very late stage – requiring a complete overhaul of logistics and crew planning.

“Northern Rail have agreed an action plan with the Rail North Partnership – this is focused on improving driver rostering to get more trains running as quickly as possible, rapidly increasing driver training on new routes, additional contingency drivers and management presence at key locations in Manchester. They have also published temporary timetables that will be more deliverable and will give passengers much more confidence in the reliability of their service.

“This will mean removing certain services from the new expanded timetable while ensuring there is still an improvement in the total number of services being run by Northern compared to before the timetable change.”

On the future:

“On Northern, the Great North Rail Project, an investment of well over £1 billion in the region’s rail network will enable, by 2020, faster and more comfortable journeys, as well as new direct services across the north and beyond.

“By 2020, it will see the train operators, Northern and TransPennine Express, deliver room for 40,000 extra passengers and more than 2,000 extra services a week.”