The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) tried to intervene in the bonus process by pointing out certain Network Rail (NR) failures to the company's remuneration committee.

But NR confirmed its three top directors were all getting performance-related annual bonuses of more than £200,000, with chief executive Iain Coucher receiving £305,581.

In addition, under a rolling three-year long-term incentive plan, the top three are also getting bonuses of more than £153,000, with Mr Coucher getting £205,000.

Former NR chief executive John Armitt is now chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, but he will get a £178,000 bonus for being in office during part of the last three years.

All NR staff will get an annual bonus - getting at least £871 - with £55 million being paid out in total. This is about twice the amount awarded last year.

ORR chief executive wrote to NR remuneration committee chairman Jim Cornell last month pointing out NR performance deficiencies.

ORR fined NR a record £14 million this year for the new year engineering work overruns, the worst of which was at Rugby in the West Midlands on the West Coast Main Line.