THE Government is to axe the "crazy" arrangement where some rail companies are paid twice for replacing trains with buses.

In some cases, bus companies running rail replacement services are owned by the same parent company as the train operators.

This means some are claiming the bus service operators grant (BSOG) for running rail replacement services as well as receiving compensation from Network Rail.

Transport Minister Norman Baker has said bus companies will now no longer be able to claim the extra BSOG subsidy for running replacement services.

Mr Baker said: "Rail replacement services are quite obviously not a local bus service and I am proposing to put a stop to the highly questionable arrangements where some train operators can get paid twice over for running buses that replace their trains.

"When rail passengers buy a ticket they want to get on a train, not a bus."