Network Rail boss who presided over the Christmas trains fiasco and was due to receive a golden goodbye of more than £300,000 will not be eligible for the money.

Robin Gisby will leave his post as managing director of network operations early next year, a spokeswoman for Network Rail said.

The company had previously said Mr Gisby would be given a substantial "incentive" payment of up to £371,000.

Now Network Rail has confirmed that, as he is leaving the company at the end of February, he will not be entitled to any of the bonus.

Asked if the decision not to pay the bonus was linked to the overrunning engineering work and chaos that ensued at the weekend, the spokeswoman said that it was not.

The late-running work, overseen by Mr Gisby, left thousands of passengers stranded or delayed.

There were chaotic scenes at London rail stations after trains into King's Cross were cancelled and Paddington Station temporarily closed.

Passengers complained they had been herded onto "dangerously overcrowded" trains while others queued for several hours in the freezing cold to board trains.

Mr Gisby was forced to apologise for the chaos, as the rail watchdog, Office of Rail Regulation, said it is launching an investigation into the disruption.

He said: "I'm deeply sorry for the delays, upset and upheaval caused to passengers impacted by our overrunning improvement work outside King's Cross.

"We've had an army of 11,000 engineers out over Christmas Day and Boxing Day at 2,000 locations nationwide. Over 90% have been completed and handed back to-time but I realise this is no consolation for the thousands affected."

A spokeswoman for Network Rail, who had previously confirmed the payment, said: "Robin will be leaving at the end of February 2015. In this case he will not be eligible to receive any of the max £371,000 LTIP (long term incentive plan) award."

According to Network Rail's published accounts, Mr Gisby received nearly £1 million in pay and perks in the financial year 2013/2014.

This included a salary of £378,000, pension contributions of £148,000 pension, a 'golden handcuffs' retention bonus of £300,000 and £64,000 in other benefits.