2.7% rise in rail costs
The cost of running the railway has increased to £19.5 billion, according to new statistics from the Office of Rail and Road.
THE cost of running the railway for the year 2016-17 came to £19.5 billion, a 2.7% increase from the previous 12-month period, according to statistics released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on January 18.
Around 59% of this was incurred by operators, 35% went on managing the network, and 6% by freight, High Speed 1 and other areas. The railway received £19.0bn of income, up 3.0% on 2015-16.
Overall, £9.7bn of rail funding came from passenger fares (a rise of 1.1% from 2015-16), at an average fare of £5.48 or 14p per passenger kilometre travelled. This represents an increase of 18.2% over the past five years.
Meanwhile, £3.4bn came from government funding (net), a decrease of 0.7% since 201516. Over the past five years Government funding (excluding borrowing) has dropped by 21.1%.
ORR said Government received £0.7bn from train operating companies (TOCs). In comparison, in 2011-12 it paid £0.1bn (net) to TOCs. In 2016-17, TOCs paid £3.2bn in premium payments, with Government returning £2.5bn in subsidies.
Northern received the biggest Government payout during the period (£284 million), while South West Trains paid the most (£366m).
Network Rail received £4.4bn in Government grants, £1.5bn in track access charges, and £0.9bn
from income including property sales. NR borrowed £6.1bn from Government, which was used to pay for £3.4bn of enhancement projects including Great Western electrification (£0.6bn), Thameslink (£0.4bn), the Northern Hub (£0.3bn) and Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme (£0.2bn), while £2.4bn was spent repaying some of its private sector debt and other expenses.
ORR said TOC expenditure in 2016-17 rose 1.7% to £12.6bn, and by 20.2% over the past five years. NR expenditure in the year rose 6.5% to £7.6bn, and by 20.0% over the past five years.
The region with the lowest expenditure per passenger kilometre is Anglia (27p), with Western and London North West the second lowest (both 28p). Wales is the highest at 43p.