Rail passengers pay more as susbsidy falls

The total amount train passengers pay for their tickets is going up while government subsidy for the railways is falling, according to a report by regulators.

The cost of running the railways across Britain is also rising, as is the amount of money rail companies make from sources such as car parking.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) report for the year to March 2012 showed ticket income from passengers was £7.2 billion, an 8.7 per cent increase on 2010-11.

This represented 57.6 per cent of the industry’s total income, up from 55.8 per cent the previous year.

The ORR said the 8.7 per cent increase was partly attributable to a 7.2 per cent rise in the number of passenger journeys in the country.

It added that adjusting the figures for inflation suggested the average income per passenger journey had decreased by 3.6 per cent.

Total government funding in 2011-12 was £4bn, which was 0.5 per cent less than in 2010-11, and 5.4 per cent less if adjusted for inflation.

The cost of running the railways in 2011-12 was around £11.6bn, an increase of 2.9 per cent.

The rail industry received £1.3bn of income from other sources such as parking and property rental, a 5.1 per cent rise.