Semantics aside, railways rules aside, as a rail user I think it'd be 'easier' if my dealings were all with one TOC. They've done the first bit, I buy the ticket from SE, I pay SE, they divi up the proceed between themselves. I don't have to deal with each TOC in the purchase of the ticket. They have a 'settlement process'
Likewise when there is a delay, it would be an added convenience for my 'ticketting TOC' to deal with it. Probably quite complex, it is how it is.
It's a convenience already that when the trains are delayed due to 'Network Rail', TOCs deal with them and passenger does not have to.
I don't see this as a problem here. It is always obvious which train caused you a delay, and the TOC is a critical piece of information to look for in order to board the right train.
This would still leave the inconsistency whereby you go to a different organisation for a refund as you would for Delay Repay though.
Delay Repay and refunds are different matters. The former is about where you actually used the service but it wasn't operated satisfactorily, so you look at the operator which caused you trouble and get compensation there. The latter is where you did not use the service at all.
The EU airline delay compensation also works this way, where the airline itself is directly liable, but the amount isn't tied to ticket prices (i.e. you can be compensated more than the ticket if the delay is sufficiently long).
I believe that's how it works when buying anything else as a consumer. Contract is made with whoever takes your money, they may then reclaim from their wholesaler / manufacturer / etc.
I am dubious about this statement. In the case of train travel, it is very clear that I'm buying service from South Western Railway / whichever TOC despite I'm paying money to Trainsplit. Trainsplit is the only facilitator of a contract between me and the TOC. The same happens if I enter a race organised by ABC orienteering club through the website of xyzraces.example.com and pay it which is a third party where orienteering clubs use them to manage entries.
Sounds good, in theory, but how long us this long term going to be? I can also still see where there could be issues where a passenger abandons the rail journey part way through, due to a problem, say a failed train blocking the line, with no time given for either services to resume or if a replacement bus will be provided and passenger just being told to wait forfurtherinformation, so phones a friend for a lift, no touch out to allow an automatic delay calculation there and not the straightforward arrived for train, saw big problems decided not to travel so claimed a refund.
If using PAYG, this will become an incomplete journey so when the delay is known, the system is instructed not to charge a maximum fare, so the journey is effectively free.
I think you should simply be able to claim DR from any RDG-accredited retailer. There are so many different operators and brands that the customer is likely to come into contact with - the operators of stations, the operator of their train, the operator of another train that serves the same route and so appeared in their journey planner, and the retailer of their ticket.
Clearly there would have to be some settlement arrangements, but the customer shouldn't have to care about those. They have been inconvenienced on their journey and they should be able to be compensated for it with minimum hassle.
I still believe the current model works the best. The train which causes you delay is clearly defined. And in National Rail the operators and brands I come to contact are only the retailer and the operator. The operators of stations are not actually relevant here as it does nothing to your delay normally. Even when you are delayed, the retailer is out of question here as it's the operator job to give you appropriate transportation, so you have at most 2 points of contact only - the operator of the incoming train, and the operator of outgoing train.
Compare the following to passenger airlines, which is a total mess when irregularities happen:
You buy an air ticket from airline AA using frequent flyer miles on a flight BB1234, transferring to CC2345 operated by DD. You now potentially have 4 different airlines to deal with when your flight BB1234 has been delayed, causing you to miss the connection to CC2345.
