More than £2million was paid out in delay compensation to frustrated rail passengers by Abellio Greater Anglia, last year, it has been revealed.

There has been a £900,000 increase in the amount paid to delayed passengers in just one year – increasing from £1.4m in 2013/14 to £2.3m in 2014/15.

In total, the rail operator has paid out £5,389,000 since it took over the franchise in February 2012.

But rail bosses insist that improvements will be made to tackle delays, with more than £170m set to be pumped into improving services which operate throughout Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and parts of London.

A spokesman from Abellio Greater Anglia said: 'We apologise to passengers who have experienced delays on our services.

'The increase in compensation paid out reflects both increased disruption in the 2014/15 year – predominantly due to severe weather, fatalities and problems suffered by Network Rail, with infrastructure faults and over-running engineering work – and a deliberate effort to make it easier for passengers to claim.

'We have continued to promote the ways in which passengers can claim delay repay compensation, to make the process more transparent, and earlier this year we launched an online delay repay scheme for season ticket holders.'

A spokesman from Network Rail said: 'We are investing around £170m this year on the line between London and Norwich to give passengers a more reliable and consistent service. We will continue to work closely with Abellio Greater Anglia to do all we can to improve performance across the region.'

Rail minister Claire Perry has welcomed the measures to help customers claim delay compensation, but believes more needs to be done to tackle the problems. 'If customers are hit by significant delays, it is only right that they get the compensation they are entitled to,' she said.