GB rail industry financials information 2013-2014

Head Office Circular No. NP/028/15/MC


To the Secretary all Branches,
Council of Executive members,
Regional Councils and Regional Offices

Wednesday 18th February 2015


Dear Colleagues,

GB rail industry financials information 2013-2014
The ORR has published its report GB rail industry financials information 2013-2014. This outlines the current financial state in the rail industry and highlights:
•    The government / taxpayer continues to be a net funder of train operating companies to the tune of £3.8bn.

•    All but 2 of the TOCs are net recipients of public funding

•    One of those is East Coast, which was a net contributor of £23m to the UK government in 2013/14 – clearly demonstrating the success of the publicly owned model for East Coast.

•    This is particularly true when we compare the 3 biggest inter-city providers, as below:
 
     East Coast    First Great Western    Virgin West Coast
Total payments to government     £217m    £296m    £97m
Total payments from government (franchise receipts + revenue support + NR grant)    £194    £514m     £322m
Total net payments to government    £23m    -£218m    -£225m
Total net payments by passenger journey    £1.15    -£2.19    -£7.03
Total share of govt funding     -0.6%    5.8%    5.9%
 
 
•    Despite receiving net funding of £3.8bn, TOCs collectively paid out £183m in dividends to shareholders.

•    The 12 TOCs that paid out dividends of £183m in total, were net recipients of £2.66bn in public subsidy, see below:
 
TOC    Net funding    Dividend payment
c2c Rail    -£41m    £8m
Northern Rail    -£669m    £27m
Southeastern    -£324m    £5m
Southern    -£90m    £23m
South West Trains    £51m    £16m
First Capital Connect    -£25m    £5m
First Trans Pennine Express    -£209m    £30m
Arriva Trains Wales    -£331m    £16m
Virgin Trains (West Coast)    -£225m    £10m
LOROL (London Overground)    -£127m    £5m
Merseyrail    -£125m    £16m
First Scotrail    -£544m    £21m
Total    £2.66bn    £183
 

The full report is available here: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/16997/gb-rail-industry-financials-2013-14.pdf

RMT will continue to campaign for full renationalisation to put an end to this rip-off.

Yours sincerely,

 

Mick Cash
General Secretary