"I am accountable for the railways and the performance [over Christmas] was not acceptable so I have decided that I should not take my bonus this year," he told Sky News.
The government spends about £5bn a year on the railways, with Network Rail receiving £3.7bn of that investment in grants last year.
The government hopes that the lure of extended contracts will entice greater investment from the private sector and allow the government to reduce the taxpayer's contribution to the railways.
He came to press the case for more electrification of the railways.
The late British historian Tony Judt once delivered an emphatic case for making the railways a moral example for British society.
British shareholders could also make money by investing in Indian infrastructure, principally the railways, where the Indian government attracted funds by guaranteeing returns on capital of 5% net per year.
The government has apologised for the "totally unacceptable" disruption on the railways at Christmas but defended Network Rail, which it said completed most of its projects on time and attempted to limit disruption.
The government recently warned that alternatives to HS2 could spell massive disruption on mainline railways, but expects others to accept massively disrupted local lives.
The report from Transport for the North – the new body of combined authorities – proposes cutting journey times with high-speed railways, new road connections, and Oyster-style smartcards and simpler fares throughout the region.
But I haven't noticed improvements on the railways - occasionally I have such a dreadful experience on the trains that I wonder whether there is any alternative.
"Network Rail's on our books, huge taxpayer subsidies and investment going into the railways, but the industry want to stitch it up themselves and we're not having that anymore.
