Rail profiteer Govia was rewarded for failure yesterday when the government handed a no-questions-asked four-year extension to its Southeastern contract.

Trade unions slammed the decision to give the green light to the firm — a lash-up between Go-Ahead and French state-owned Keolis — despite rock-bottom passenger satisfaction and notorious unreliability.

Even Transport Minister Claire Perry admitted that the “passengers on this route haven’t always received the service that they deserve.”

However, the Tory added hopefully that the contract extension would be an opportunity for a “fresh start.”

The deal for routes between London, Kent and East Sussex is tied to a limited investment programme which will see several dozen more staff and a few more services and give staff tablet devices by next July so that they can tell travellers about the latest delays.

Govia has also agreed to fully “deep clean” all of its stations once by September 30 2015.

But the financial benefits offered to Govia to sign the long-awaited no-competition deal were not made public yesterday.

In its annual report in June, Go-Ahead told shareholders it was “committed to negotiating new and favourable terms.”

Southeastern’s operators received £334.3 million in subsidies last year — the sixth-highest per passenger mile.

Its parent companies racked up profits of over £30m across their rail operations.

But punctuality fell last year and travellers’ satisfaction with Southeastern was the lowest in Britain, according to a February study by the Which? consumer advocacy group.

Rail union RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash branded the ministerial rubber-stamp for Govia a reward for total and abject failure.

“No matter how badly these private train companies let down the travelling public they can still rely on the government to protect them and the fat profits and subsidies they are robbing from the rail network,” he said.

Sister union TSSA leader Manuel Cortes said: “Forty per cent of their trains arrived late last year.

“For many years they were also allowed to charge the highest fare increases — 3 per cent on top of inflation.

“So for the most expensive and late-running service, they get rewarded with a new deal.”