Network Rail, fronted by chief executive Ian Coucher, has been clobbered with a record �14 million fine by the railway regulator, after engineering work overran during the key Christmas and New Year period.

Yet the company says that, without further delays, it may not meet its December deadline for work to the West Coast Main Line at Rugby. Disillusioned passengers are now looking at extra disruption throughout the summer, with lines needing to be closed at weekends while work progresses.

Critics of the fine have called it pointless, since it will only end up coming out of the pockets of the taxpayer. Network Rail will have to shell out the �14 million to the Department for Transport (DfT), yet guidelines state that the DfT must pass the money straight to the Treasury, rather than spend it on rail improvements.

One opponent was Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker, who said, ‘All the fine means is that Network Rail will have �14 million less to invest in railways, and the Chancellor �14 million more in his coffers.’ Because Network Rail has no shareholders, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), in Baker’s view, was basically penalising taxpayers who have funded a publicly owned company, while Passenger Focus, a watchdog body, accused the ORR of fining passengers twice.

However, the ORR said the fine reflected the seriousness of the impact that the overrunning work had on passengers and rail freight users.