Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse of the subsidy required to support the railways was in (a) 2018-9, (b) 2020-1 and (c) 2023-4.

The Government’s net support to the rail industry in Great Britain totalled £7.1 billion in 2018-19, £16.9 billion in 2020-21 and £22.3 billion in 2023-24. This support includes funding for both the operational railway and for enhancement projects such as HS2.

These values as well as further information can be found on the Office for Rail and Road portal: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/finance/rail-industry-finance/.