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Network Rail bosses, including chief executive Sir David Higgins, have said they will not accept bonuses this year.

They had come under growing political pressure to waive the potential six-figure awards.

The government said it opposed the bonuses but did not have the power to block the awards.

Sir David, who was eligible for a bonus of up to ^340,000, said in a statement that they would be donating the money to a rail safety charity.

He said he took the decision before the row over remuneration broke out.

"I and my directors decided last week that we would forego any entitlement and instead allocate the money to the safety improvement fund for level crossing," he said.

"I can confirm that remains our intention."

Labour had said the bonuses could not be "justified" in the current financial climate and the firm's performance did not merit it.

'Reflect further'

Network Rail has also postponed a meeting on Friday at which the bonuses were set to be criticised and at which Transport Secretary Justine Greening had said she would vote against the bonus plan.

In a statement, Network Rail, which owns most of Britain's rail network infrastructure, said its board "will take the opportunity to reflect further on how to incentivise performance in the company against the backdrop of the current context".

Sir David and six other directors had been eligible to receive up to 60% of their annual salaries in one-off performance-related bonuses. The firm insisted no decision had yet been made but came under sustained pressure to curb the payments.

Before the decision was announced on Monday, Labour leader Ed Miliband appealed for a "culture of responsibility" at the firm and said ministers should have intervened earlier to stop bonuses on such a scale.

Ms Greening made it clear she opposed the bonuses but insisted she did not have the power to block them under the terms of Network Rail's governing arrangements - something Labour disputed.

Taxpayer support

No 10 said ministers were not permitted to interfere in the "day-to-day running" of the firm - which receives ^4bn of taxpayer funding a year and is guaranteed by the government.

But it said it would be looking at the firm's corporate governance in light of "problems" that had arisen.

The growing political attention on the proposed Network Rail bonuses followed the row over bonuses at the majority taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester turned down a ^963,000 bonus last week following a political outcry.

Employer groups have expressed concern that anger over executive remuneration may create a climate of "anti-business hysteria" and dissuade firms from investing in the UK.

Sir David, who was eligible for a bonus of up to ^340,000, said in a statement that they would be donating the money to a rail safety charity.

NETWORK RAIL ADJOURNS MEMBERS' MEETING

The board of Network Rail has decided to recommend to its members that this Friday's meeting be adjourned. The board will take the opportunity to reflect further on how to incentivise performance in the company against the backdrop of the current context. It will continue to consult the Secretary of State on wider issues of governance in advance of the government's command paper.

Chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite, said: "Friday's meeting was not to approve a specific annual bonus payment for Executive Directors, but rather to amend a previously approved long term incentive scheme to ensure additional external scrutiny of performance.

"The issue of annual performance payments would only arise if Network Rail surpassed stretching performance thresholds and would only be decided in May after the end of the financial year.

Chief executive, David Higgins, said: "Even if this situation does arise this year, I and my directors decided last week that we would forego any entitlement and instead allocate the money to the safety improvement fund for level crossings. I can confirm that remains our intention."

The Secretary of State was informed of the decision to recommend adjournment this morning.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't, perhaps...? No doubt they'd be taking heat were they to accept the bonuses, but we seem to be criticizing them here for foregoing them!

No, to be fair, Network Rail never used the word charity.CfN  ;)

Details of their ^346m safety improvement fund for level crossings are given on page 13 in this Network Rail document (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=30064778480).

CfN  ;)

The charity reference is clearly an error. However, I am still left with the rather disconcerting impression that there is a trade off between investment in level crossing safety and the payment of directors' bonuses.