NETWORK Rail uses millions of pounds of public money a year to pay compensation to private train firms for delays caused by suicides on the tracks, the Sunday Herald has uncovered.

In one estimate, Network Rail - the public body that runs the UK rail network - shells out around £15m a year for disruption caused by people taking their own lives.

Mick Cash, the general secretary of the RMT trade union, said: “Yet again, this is a case of private companies taking all of the profits and none of the risks, while the taxpayer is left to carry the can.”

Network Rail, which is funded by Transport Scotland and the UK Government, manages the tracks while train operating firm such as Virgin and Scotrail run the services.

However, the firms rely on access to the network to make money and are hampered if there are delays to services for unforeseen events like bad weather or signalling problems.

In order to protect the companies from risks they cannot control, operators are paid when the services are disrupted.

The scheme, which is called Schedule 8, is meant to leave train firms in a financially-neutral position but the costs are borne by the taxpayer-funded body.

In 2014/15, Network Rail paid out £105.6m to train operating companies, including £2.8m to Scotrail and £15.3m to Virgin West Coast.

Between 2011 and 2014, Scotrail received nearly £8.5m in Schedule 8 payments.

However, the scheme also covers delays caused by suicide.

In 2013/14, around 400,000 minutes of delays were attributed to suicides, an increase of 35% from 2012/13. Nearly 4.5% of suicides in the UK take place on the railways.

In July, it was reported that railway suicides had dropped from 287 to 252 in the previous year - the first reduction since 2012.

Although Network Rail does not publish a breakdown of payments related to suicide, a British Transport Police (BTP) magazine estimated in 2010 that the annual compensation sum was around £15m.

If this figure is accurate, it would mean around £90m has been paid in the last six years.

As a way of addressing rail suicides, Network Rail teamed up with the Samaritans charity six years ago.

The joint-working includes equipping the thousands of staff who work for train companies, the BTP and Network Rail with information on dealing with people who may be feeling suicidal.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: “Every train operator pays access charges to use the railway and if the railway is closed without notice (due to a fault, bad weather or a death for example), then we reimburse them for that. So we compensate for delays in general rather than for suicides in particular.

“We do publish overall figures for compensation paid to train operators, but we don’t break it down by root cause.”

He added: “We’ve got a range of initiatives we undertake to try to reduce suicides. We’re currently working with the Samaritans to help train railway staff in how to identify and approach people exhibiting suicidal behaviour.”

A spokeswoman for Scotrail said: “ScotRail’s focus is on preventing suicides on the railway, working with industry partners and the Samaritans. The train operator runs training courses for railway staff in prevention and post-incident support, and uses discreet signage at key stations to provide a helpline telephone number for people in distress.

“We are shortly taking part in an multi-agency pilot with industry partners where specially trained and identifiable ‘pastors’ will provide a reassuring presence at our stations and on train. Their role will be to listen, care and help vulnerable passengers.”