Train companies
South Western Railway Delay Repay: claims, automatic claims and seasons
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
The calculator above runs South Western Railway's bands: put in what you paid and how late you reached your station.
South Western Railway would pay
£7.13
25% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | Delay Repay 15, from 15 min |
| Band applied | 15–29 min |
| From 30 min late | £14.25 |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme South Western Railway publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
South Western Railway (SWR) carries passengers out of London Waterloo across Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and further west, and compensates late arrivals under Delay Repay 15. The ticket you hold sets the base: a single returns 25% of its price from 15 minutes late, 50% from 30 and all of it from 60, while each late leg of a return counts for half those shares until 120 minutes, when the whole return comes back. Season holders are paid on the value of a single journey, capped at two single journeys for the longest delays. Automated Delay Repay, after sign-up: seasons on its smartcards and Advance tickets bought on its website. Claims are due within 28 days of travel. SWR was the first operator moved into public ownership, on 25 May 2025. In April 2025 to March 2026, the Office of Rail and Road recorded 730,844 claims to SWR and an approval rate of 83.5%.
Delay Repay on a return ticket
You would get
£22.50
| Share of the return fare | 25% |
| Outward band | 30 min and over |
| Return band | none |
| Capped at | £90 |
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Single, return and season on one page
The bands below are applied to a £28.50 single. A return uses the right-hand column; the return tool on this page adds both legs of a return for you.
| Minutes late | Single ticket | Paid on £28.50 | Return, each late leg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 29 | 25% | £7.13 | 12.5% |
| 30 to 59 | 50% | £14.25 | 25% |
| 60 to 119 | 100% | £28.50 | 50% |
| 120 or more | 100% | £28.50 | 100% |
For seasons, SWR's own table is written as a share of the cost of a return journey, which is the same as a share of a single journey doubled. A single journey is 1/10 of a weekly, 1/16 of a Flexi, 1/40 of a monthly and 1/464 of an annual. With an annual season of £5,400, a 30-minute delay pays £5.82 and a delay of two hours or more pays £23.28, the most a single day can bring.
Automated Delay Repay in practice
ADR has to be switched on: select it in your Delay Repay account, choose your payment method and save your usual journey. Then tap in and out each time. When a delay is detected, SWR emails you to say it believes you were delayed; the claim sits in your Delay Repay account for you to approve, amend if the amount looks wrong, or decline if you were not on that train. For Tap2Go, the value can take up to seven days to finalise, because the fare depends on the travel actually made.
The payment options listed for SWR claims are bank transfer, cheque or rail travel vouchers.
Delay Repay or a refund?
SWR draws the line clearly. Claim Delay Repay if you started the journey by train and finished it another way, or travelled at least part of it and reached your destination later than the advertised timetable. Ask for a refund instead if disruption made you give up the trip, gave up and went back to your starting station, or hold an unused daily ticket; that request has to reach SWR no later than 28 days after the ticket expired.
Proof for manual claims
- Tickets from another retailer: a copy of the ticket or the eTicket reference. Order references from third parties are not accepted.
- Oyster and contactless: a journey statement from the TfL website. A card statement without the time or the journey on it will not be accepted.
- Seasons: a copy of the matching photocard with every claim.
- A lost ticket: a receipt that shows the journey.
Claims for losses beyond the fare go through the Consumer Rights Act route, assessed case by case; SWR aims to answer them within 20 working days.
Island Line, ownership and claim figures
Island Line trains, run by South Western Railway, are assumed to follow the same scheme. No separate compensation page for it was found. The company has been publicly owned since 25 May 2025, the first transfer on the GOV.UK public ownership page. ORR figures: in April 2025 to March 2026, 699,090 claims closed, 83.5% approved and 99.7% closed within 20 working days. For April 2026 to March 2027, provisional: 374,829 received, 85.9% approved. The Conditions of Travel remain the minimum: 50% of the fare from 60 minutes.
How an operator handles Delay Repay claims
Claims approved
83.5%
| Closed within 20 working days | 99.7% |
| Claims closed | 699,090 |
| Period | April 2025 to March 2026 |
Office of Rail and Road, Table 4410 (OGL v3.0). Where the ORR reports a group, the figure covers all its brands.