Last month it was announced that a £2.3m fine issued because of poor train performance had risen to more than £3m.
The fine is issued by Transport for Wales to the company in charge of operating their trains - Keolis Amey if they fail to hit performance targets.
Keolis Amey was awarded the £5bn Wales and borders franchise in October 2018.
Since April 1, 2019, there have been 10 periods which the firm has been assessed on.
Performance in each of those four-weekly periods is checked and divided into Valley lines services and all other Welsh services run by Transport for Wales.
For the first three periods of the financial year, Valleys lines services met their targets, and bonus payments were issued.
In the same period a fine of almost £500,000 was issued for services elsewhere in Wales missing the target.
Since April 2019, a £355,025 fine was issued four different times, for missed targets on non-Valleys line services.
While there are three ways that fines can be issued, the below fines were all issued because of performance time lost - the biggest incentive for operators to run services on time.
How each period compares:
April 1 to April 27:
Target for non-Valleys line services was to arrive within one minute and five seconds.
The target was missed by 14 seconds, resulting in a fine of £133,719.60.
For Valleys lines services the target of arriving within 47 seconds of the scheduled time was met (with services arriving an average of 35 seconds late, per passenger) meaning a bonus of £18,013.29.
April 29 to May 25:
Target for non-Valleys line services was to arrive within one minute and five seconds.
The target was missed by five seconds, resulting in a fine of £138,266.07.
For Valleys lines services the target of arriving within 46 seconds of the scheduled time was met (with services arriving an average of 38 seconds late, per passenger) meaning a bonus of £13,834.57.
May 26 to June 22:
The non-Valleys line service target was missed by 20 seconds, resulting in a fine of £221,439.66.
For Valleys lines services the target of arriving within 46 seconds of the scheduled time was met (with services arriving an average of 40 seconds late, per passenger) meaning a bonus of £10,306.57.
June 23 to July 20:
Valleys lines services had a target of arriving no more than an average of 46 seconds late per passenger.
That was missed by 24 seconds, resulting in a fine of £31,542.68.
The target for other services was one minute and five seconds but was missed by an average per passenger of one minute six seconds, resulting in a £307,688.80 fine.
July 21 to August 17:
A fine of £331,357.17 was issued because the average delay per passenger on non-Valleys line trains was missed by a minute and 17 seconds.
On Valleys lines, a fine of £45,739.78 was issued because the target of 46 seconds was missed by a minute and 11 seconds.
August 18 to September 14
The target of arriving no later than an average of a minute and nine seconds late, was missed by a minute and eight seconds, landing Keolis Amey a fine of £355,025.54 on non-Valleys lines.
Valley lines services missed their target by 14 seconds, resulting in a £49,897.94.
September 15 to October 12
The target on Valleys lines services was missed by 48 seconds meaning a £54,056.10 fine.
On non-Valleys lines services, it was missed by 51 seconds meaning a £355,025.54 fine.
October 13 to November 9
The target for non-Valleys lines services was missed by an average of one minute and 26 seconds resulting in a fine of £354,456.94.
On Valleys lines services it was missed by 57 seconds, meaning a fine of £58,214.26.
November 10 to December 7
The biggest fines were issued on both metrics this month with a £355,025.54 fine for non-Valley lines trains and £62,251.31 on Valleys services.
The target was missed by 57 seconds on Valleys line services, and two minutes, 26 seconds on non-Valleys lines.
December 8 to January 4
In this period, the target of non-Valleys lines trains arriving no more than an average of a minute late per passenger was missed by two minutes and 35 seconds, meaning a fine of £355,025.54.
There was also a fine of £52,320.17 for Valleys lines services, which missed target by an average of 16 seconds.
How are fines decided?
There are three ways a train operator can be fined:
1. Passenger Time Lost (PTL)
This is the biggest financial incentive for a train operator to deliver services on time - in short, it means if their services are late they are fined and get less money to run their services.
These are calculated every four weeks.
The way it is worked out means that if it more passengers are impacted, the fine is bigger. So if the train running through Machynlleth and Shrewsbury arrives at Shrewsbury late, because that will impact more passengers, it will result in a bigger fine.
2. Short formations
This is to stop operators being able to run trains made up of less carriages than they promised.
So, if a four carriage train is promised, but it runs as a two carriage train, a fine will be issued.
This is calculated annually.
3. % of stops missed
To ensure operators don't skip the same stops every time, and impact the same passengers day after day, the trains cancelled cannot be on the same line all the time.
This is calculated annually.
Why do TFW say they're doing better than ATW when loads of trains are still late?
Transport for Wales say that when they set out the benchmarks that the new operator had to meet, they made the contract tougher so Arriva Trains Wales and Keolis Amey have different criteria to meet.
Transport for Wales say their terms for Keolis Amey are much tougher.
What happens to the fine?
If it's decided that Keolis Amey should be fined, Transport for Wales will hold money back from the monthly sum they give the operator to run the service - their so-called grant agreement.
That means the operator has less money to meet the contract it signed up to.
It means that there is surplus money in the Transport for Wales pot. As a not-for-profit company, they don't take that as profit and want it spent on the railways.
Keolis Amey can pitch - via a formal business plan - to get extra money, but it has to be spent on improving railways in Wales.
It's not in Keolis Amey's interest to have to run a service for less money so should act as an incentive for it not to happen.
What do Keolis Amey say?
KeolisAmey Wales CEO Kevin Thomas said: "We are passionate about delivering the best possible rail service for Wales and borders, using our expertise from around the world.
"Together with Transport for Wales we are pioneering a mechanism that holds our feet to the fire and makes us directly accountable to the people that matter most – our passengers.
"As a result of our joint innovation here in Wales, we will continue to pay penalties until performance improves against the ambitions set out in the grant agreement. As the data shows, TfW are already starting to see these improvements.
"A 24% reduction in network delay minutes following the introduction of our December timetable, the recent arrival of the Class 170 trains, alongside the recruitment of over 200 additional train crew and the introduction of more than 186 new Sunday Services.
"We have also reintroduced regular passenger services along the Halton Curve (between Wrexham/Chester and Liverpool) and seen the refurbishment of stations across the network, all at the same time as we’re investing £40 million in our existing fleet so that our passengers can enjoy a more comfortable and modern experience.
"Our most recent customer satisfaction survey reveals 89% of customers were satisfied with their overall journey.
"Against this, we recognise the challenges faced by some customers who are not experiencing levels of service reflecting our ambition and our people are working incredibly hard to change this and deliver for our customers and communities. Working in partnership with Transport for Wales, we are transforming our railway and that is going to take time."
