Rail

£79bn

estimated additional cost of privatisation from 1997 to 2020

Source: Common Wealth extension of methodology from John Stittle, Sean McCartney, “A Very Costly Industry”, December 2017, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 49, pp.1-17; Office for Rail and Road, Tables 7210, 7226, 7243 and 1310.

Note: Measured in 2025 prices, using the GPD-deflator. We extend the methodology used by John Stittle and Sean McCartney, “A Very Costly Industry”, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, which compares the escalating system-wide operating costs per passenger-km observed since 1997 against a hypothetical counterfactual scenario of continued public ownership. This counterfactual extrapolates from the 1.8 per cent annual decline in operating costs per passenger-km achieved by British Rail between 1981 (the earliest year for which data is observable) and 1993. Our extension of this methodology more conservatively assumes falling costs of only one per cent per annum instead. Our period of analysis only extends to the year ending March 2020 on the basis that no counterfactual scenario with respective to unit operating costs during the pandemic can be tenably assumed.

3.4x

Source: Consumer Trends, ONS; Annual National Accounts (2020 base), Insee; Annual Transport Trends, OECD.

Note: Household final consumption expenditure on rail (including light rail and trams) divided by passenger-km. Public subsidy is not included.

Riders pay around 20p per passenger-km in the UK, compared to 6p in France as of 2023 (current exchange rates). Unlike our expenditure data, our passenger-km figure excludes Northern Ireland, which upwardly biases our estimated price per km.

The estimated price is further complicated by the inclusion of light rail and trams, whose share of total passenger-km is greater in France than in the UK (13 per cent vs 3 per cent). If light rail has higher fares per passenger-km than heavy rail, then this would lead us to overestimate heavy rail prices for France relative to the UK, and vice versa.

cost of UK train fares compared to those in France

103%

rail companies' post-tax profits paid out to shareholders between 2017 and 2024

Source: Tables 7226 and 7275, Office for Rail and Road.

Rail passengers pay some of the highest fares in Europe, despite the sector receiving billions in public subsidy every year. The pace of electrification lags behind European peers, while overall investment has fallen. Service quality is patchy.

The railway system was privatised in the mid-1990s and broken up into three interdependent markets that put profit over the public. Ownership of Britain’s railways was handed over to Railtrack, which shed engineering staff for consultants. Seven years and four fatal crashes later, it went into administration. Its successor, Network Rail, now pays more on debt repayments than it does on track maintenance.

Train operating companies are slowly being brought back into public ownership. However, the ageing trains are still owned and leased by the private rolling stock companies, who funnel nearly half their income out to related parties, often domiciled in low-tax jurisdictions. Fees to the rolling stock companies remain a major cost (23 per cent) for operating companies.

The train has left the station. It is time to rebuild an integrated railway system that invests for the future: better trains, cheaper tickets and a more reliable service.

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How Much of Your Rail Fare Is Profit?

Train operating company expenditure, including profits, England, 2023 to 2024

Source: Common Wealth analysis of Office for Rail and Road, Companies House, and RMT data.

Note: The Office for Rail and Road’s rail industry finance data reports the profit margin for the train operators. In our analysis, we include profits made by the rolling stock leasing companies (who rent the trains to train operators), the outsourced staffing companies and the Network Rail subcontractors to get a more accurate picture of profits made in the rail sector.

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The Majority of Rail Industry Income Comes from Direct and Indirect Government Subsidies

Income from passenger tickets vs net franchise subsidy, network grant and Network Rail losses, UK, 2016 to 2024

Source: Tables 7210, 7226 and 7216, Office of Rail and Road Safety.

Note: The train operators receive direct subsidies through the Department for Transport (DfT), and indirect subsidies via the Network Grant from DfT to Network Rail, which since 2002 has lowered the operators’ track access charges to make their profitability possible without further fare hikes. These artificially low access charges also push Network Rail into losses that end up on the public balance sheet, and which we therefore also treat as implicit subsidies. Since 2020, these subsidies have accounted for more than 50% of total industry income, overtaking operating income from ticket fares and other typical revenue streams. Our figures here calculated unsubsidised income as the residual of industry income after subtracting both the Network Rail losses and the net government support payments both to passenger and freight operators and to the infrastructure manager (Network Rail). Six per cent of total industry income and expenditure is accounted for by freight operators, High Speed 1, the Core Valleys lines and Northern Ireland Railways.

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Rolling Stock Companies Pay Out Two-Fifths of Their Revenue to Investors While Investment Slumps

Dividend and finance payments to related parties, and capital expenditure as a proportion of revenue, 2019 to 2023

Source: Companies House.

Note: Select line items taken from three rolling stock companies: Angel Trains Limited, Eversholt Rail Leasing Limited, Porterbrook Leasing Company Limited. Together, these three companies made up 76% of the rolling stock market in 2019. Capital expenditure only includes spending on property, plant and equipment. Finance costs to group and related parties are interest payments on debt payable to other companies in the corporate group or related parties such as shareholders, bondholders and investors.

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Company	Subsector	ultimate parent	Ultimate parent HQ	Owner	Owner Group	equity	Owner type	Owner Group HQ
Stagecoach Group	Train Operating Company	Stagecoach Group Ltd	UK	Stagecoach Group Limited	Stagecoach Group Limited	0%	Other	UK
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Dalmore Capital 58 General Partner LLP	Dalmore Topco (Holdings) Limited	2%	Vanilla finance	UK
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	DC4 (Assetco) Limited	Dalmore Topco (Holdings) Limited	3%	Vanilla finance	UK
Eversholt Rail	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Eversholt UK Rails Group Limited	UK	U.F. Holdings S.à r.l.	CK Hutchison Holdings	5%	Other	Hong Kong
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Dalmore Capital 57 General Partner LLP	Dalmore Topco (Holdings) Limited	5%	Vanilla finance	UK
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Dalmore Capital 43 General Partner LLP	Dalmore Topco (Holdings) Limited	10%	Vanilla finance	UK
Angel Trains	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Alchemy Partners LP Inc	Guernsey	Platinum Hadrian Principals International (Cayman), LLC	Platinum Equity	10%	Vanilla finance	US
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Generation Infra Ltd	Generation Capital Limited	10%	Vanilla finance	Israel
Eversholt Rail	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Eversholt UK Rails Group Limited	UK	Full Main Developments Limited	Power Asset Holdings Limited	10%	Other	Hong Kong
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Linestock	Linestock	10%	Not known	-
Transport UK	Train Operating Company	Transport Uk Group Ltd	UK	Dominic Daniel Gerard Booth	Dominic Daniel Gerard Booth	11%	High net worth individual	-
Eversholt Rail	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Eversholt UK Rails Group Limited	UK	Great Treasure Developments Limited	CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited	15%	Other	Hong Kong
Transport UK	Train Operating Company	Transport Uk Group Ltd	UK	Grosvenor Walker Investments Limited	Grosvenor Walker Investments Limited	20%	Other	UK
Transport UK	Train Operating Company	Transport Uk Group Ltd	UK	Alan Thomas Pilbeam	Alan Thomas Pilbeam	20%	High net worth individual	-
Eversholt Rail	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Eversholt UK Rails Group Limited	UK	Golden Season Ventures Limited	CK Asset Holdings Limited	20%	Other	Hong Kong
Stagecoach Group	Train Operating Company	Stagecoach Group Ltd	UK	Compass European Infrastructure SCSp	Compass European Infrastructure SCSp	21%	Vanilla finance	Luxembourg
Go-Ahead	Train Operating Company	Go-Ahead Investment Topco Ltd	UK	Foresight Group LLP	Foresight Group	25%	Private Equity	UK
Go-Ahead	Train Operating Company	Go-Ahead Investment Topco Ltd	UK	OPTrust	OPTrust	26%	Pension Fund	Canada
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Allianz Infrastructure Holding PTE. Ltd	Allianz	30%	Vanilla finance	Germany
Porterbrook	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Porterbrook Holdings I Limited	UK	Pip4 Thomas LP	Pip4 Thomas LP	30%	Not known	-
Transport UK	Train Operating Company	Transport Uk Group Ltd	UK	Norton Green Investments Limited	Norton Green Investments Limited	49%	Other	UK
Go-Ahead	Train Operating Company	Go-Ahead Investment Topco Ltd	UK	Globalvia Inversiones, S.A.U.	Globalvia	49%	Vanilla finance	Spain
Eversholt Rail	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Eversholt UK Rails Group Limited	UK	Portcobrook Limited	CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited	50%	Other	Hong Kong
Stagecoach Group	Train Operating Company	Stagecoach Group Ltd	UK	Peif III Luxco Two S.à r.l.	DWS	79%	Vanilla finance	Luxembourg
Angel Trains	Rolling Stock Leasing Companies	Alchemy Partners LP Inc	Guernsey	Platinum Equity Small Cap Fund International (Cayman), L.P.	Platinum Equity	87%	Vanilla finance	US
Arriva	Train Operating Company	Cube Transportation Europe II Aggregator LLC	Luxembourg	Cube Transportation Europe II Aggregator LLC	Cube Transportation Europe II Aggregator LLC	100%	Private Equity	Luxembourg
Scotrail	Train Operating Company	Scottish Rail Holdings Ltd	UK	Scottish Government	Scottish Government	100%	-	-
Transport for Wales	Train Operating Company	Welsh Government	UK	Welsh Government	Welsh Government	100%	-	-
TFL	Train Operating Company	London, City of (UK)	UK	Greater London Authority	Greater London Authority	100%	-	-
DfT	Train Operating Company	DfT	UK	DfT	DfT	100%	-	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Ameriprise Financial	11.05%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Schroders	10.95%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Liontrust Portfolio Management Limited	10.47%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Lombard Odier	9.53%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	BlackRock	8.57%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Aberforth Partners LLP	5.80%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Coast Capital Management, LP	4.33%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Vanguard	3.89%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	Artemis Investment Management LLP	3.69%	PLC	-
First Group	Train Operating Company	FirstGroup PLC	UK	-	J O Hambro Capital Management Limited	3.37%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	European Express Enterprises, Ltd.	22.06%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Aberforth Partners LLP	5.42%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Prudential	4.99%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Liontrust Investment Partners LLP	4.97%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	BNY Mellon	4.82%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	J O Hambro Capital Management Limited	4.10%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	azValor Asset Management SGIIC, SAU	3.01%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Northern Express Enterprises Ltd	3.00%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Abrdn	2.94%	PLC	-
Mobico (National Express)	Train Operating Company	Mobico Group PLC	UK	-	Vanguard	2.91%	PLC	-

Information gathered through company financial statements and third party sources. We believe this information to be the best and most accurate at the time of information gathering (May to September 2025). For publicly listed companies, shareholders were extracted from LSEG in July 2025. We have also aggregated investor firms to their groups to depict the total holdings of each asset manager group. For example, shares held by investor firms “The Vanguard Group, Inc.”, “Vanguard Global Advisers LLC” and “Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd” are added together for a total figure for Vanguard.