Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June to Question 9171, whether the £65.5 million difference between the forecast and actual reduction in Support for Passenger Rail Services in 2025-26 was attributable to (a) lower than forecast revenue, (b) higher than forecast costs, or (c) a combination of both.

The department does not intend to publish operator-level comparisons of subsidy requirement against forecast ahead of the publication of Train Operating Companies’ final audited accounts and financial statements. This is because the underlying revenue and cost information at TOC level is commercially sensitive, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to disclose this information in advance of publication by the operators themselves.

Information on TOC financial performance is subsequently made available through the operators’ own published accounts and through the Office of Rail and Road’s annual financial statistical publications, which are published after the close of the relevant financial year.

(https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/finance/rail-industry-finance/table-7226-franchised-passen…