Recommendation 9

Delays to reform have added pressure to the Department’s finances and higher costs to the taxpayer for longer. The Department’s costs now exceed the revenue it receives and at a level that the Department views as unsustainable – the Department spent £3.1 billion subsidising train services in 2022–23.19 We asked the Department about the level of government subsidy for the railways and what is sustainable. The Department told us that there is no one level it could identify as sustainable but that the level of funding and subsidy for the railway is not at a sustainable level and that it needs to do two things: increase revenues and reduce costs.20