Southern commuters pick up bill for the North

RAIL commuters in the south of England are paying almost a billion pounds in fares to help keep trains running in the north, Scotland and Wales, Daily Tele

graph analysis shows. The Government collects a subsidy from tickets sold for journeys on popular lines serving London and the southern areas to support less frequented routes, such as those connecting towns and cities in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

A report from the rail watchdog indicated passengers on eight of the 11 lines serving southern parts of Britain were paying into the pot of money used to keep the railways running in the north.

Companies running these train lines paid the Government as much as 6p for each kilometre their passengers travelled, according to Office of Rail and Road data. In total, they passed £917 million to the Government purse, the figures suggested.

By contrast, five of the six lines serving northern areas were given subsidies by the Government. The data suggested operators in these regions received as much as 12.4p from the Government for every kilometre their passengers travelled. The total net subsidy for northern Britain, including Scotland, and Wales was £523 million, the data showed.

In its report, the watchdog said there was a “trend for regional operators to receive a subsidy whilst those in the long distance and

London and South East sectors pay a premium”.

Under the rail franchising arrangement created when the railways were privatised by John Major in 1993, train companies must bid for the right to operate in certain areas.

The Department for Transport is able to charge a premium to rail operators in busy parts of the country because companies such as Virgin, First, Arriva and Stagecoach see an opportunity to make money.

These companies have to dip into the profits they make from passengers to pay the fees.

But in less profitable areas, the Government has to pay operators to keep the trains running and prices reasonable.

Luke Raikes, a research fellow at think tank IPPR North, acknowledged the figures did “appear to show that the south is subsidising the rail services of people in the north” when seen in isolation. But he argued the data was “just a small part of a bigger picture” on rail spending.

The Office of Rail and Road said South West Trains, which runs services into Waterloo from Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset, was forced to pay the highest premium of £374 million.

The company operated just over 6.2 billion passenger kilometres during 2014-15. This equated to a payment of 6p per passenger kilometre, the rail regulator said.

Govia Thameslink, First Capital Connect, Chiltern and Southern were among the other companies which tapped into their ticket receipts to pay the Government a premium, with the cost ranging from 4.5p per kilometre to just 1p. Outside southern zones, only the East Midlands Trains, serving Lin- colnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, paid a premium to the Government out of its ticket receipts.

Every other more northern area was heavily subsidised.

Rail strikes and the falling cost of petrol are expected to lead to a 50 per cent increase in the numbers travelling by car this bank holiday weekend.

Train services will be heavily disrupted in the South West if staff at First Great Western carry out threats to walk out for three days from tomorrow.