'Shameless' rail firms shutting tickets offices gave £160million to shareholders

19 July 2023 , 16:54

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Train operators are threatening to shut almost every ticket office in England (Image: Getty Images)

Train firms handed shareholders £160million as taxpayers forked out billions of pounds to bail them out, figures show.

Labour condemned the “shameless” giveaways as they demanded the railways are brought into public ownership.

It comes as train operators are threatening to shut almost every ticket office in England with 974 earmarked for closure.

Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh demanded ministers claw back some of the dividend cash after £16billion was handed to rail firms in subsidies during the pandemic.

In the two years to March 2022 - the period when the bailout was handed out - the worst performing rail operators gave shareholders bumper payments.

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Avanti, which runs services on the West Coast main line, paid £24million in dividends to its parent companies according to the analysis by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). It was second from bottom in the performance table for late trains in 2020-21 and was bottom in 2021-22.

Labour's Louise Haigh called for the railways to be brought back into public ownership (Getty Images)

East Midlands Rail made payments of £20million, while Cross Country paid £12million in dividends. In contrast, publicly owned operators do not pay any dividends.

Ms Haigh said: “This scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money is a symptom of a broken rail system. With the rail network in crisis, it is staggering that private operators are pocketing these vast sums instead of investing in a better service. Labour would end this scandal, bring our railways into public ownership and put passengers first.”

Rail passengers face disruption to services because of fresh industrial action by train drivers and other workers in long running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are striking on Thursday, this Saturday and next Saturday, while drivers in Aslef are banning overtime this week.

RMT members including station staff, train managers and catering staff will be involved in the action. Passengers were advised to check their travel arrangements in advance as the level of service will vary across the country.

The strike action at 14 train companies will see wide variations of services across the country with trains due to start later and finish much earlier than usual. In some areas only around half of train services will run, while others will have no services at all.

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John Stevens