Rail investment and subsidies
Annual statistics showing subsidies / premiums paid between government and train operating companies, including both nominal values and normalised per passenger kilometre.
For details on how these statistics are compiled, please see our Rail finance methodology and quality report and for information on any revisions, please see our Revisions Log.
Data and reports that include previous statistical releases on Rail investment and subsidies can be found on the National Archives.
If you have any questions or feedback on these statistics, please contact rail.stats@orr.gov.uk
Latest statistical release
Rail finance 2018-19
Date published: 14 Nov 2019
Date next published: TBC
Key results
- Net government support to the rail industry in Great Britain totalled £7.1 billion in 2018-19. This excludes loans to Network Rail. HS2 funding in 2018-19 was £2.6 billion, a real terms increase of 22.8% compared with 2017-18. Direct rail support, PTE grants and central government grants totalled £4.3 billion in 2018-19. This represents a 5.6% real terms increase on 2017-18.
- Including direct support for Network Rail, government provided 6.4p for every rail passenger kilometre travelled in Great Britain in 2018-19. This was up 0.3p in real terms on 2017-18.
- A net total of £1.1 billion was invested by private companies during 2017-18. This is a real terms decrease of 19.3% on the previous year, but it is still the second highest value recorded since the time series began in 2006-07.