the cost of the railway

This is a very simplified view of the finances of the railway in England, Scotland and Wales

more detail is available here  
http://orr.gov.uk/news-and-media/press-releases/2014/discounted-tickets-net-rail-industry-3bn-orr-rail-financials-report-2012-13
 
This relates to the year that ended on 31 March 2013

All numbers in millions of pounds
 
Where the money comes from -

	£m
Income from ticket sales	7700
other train operating company income	700
other network rail income	600
support from the government	4000
total	13000

 Where the money goes-

	£m
expenditure by train operating companies	6300
expenditure by network rail	6000
profit made by train operating companies	170
surplus made by network rail	530
total	13000

 Explanation

if we take all the income that the railway (train operating companies and network rail) derives from its customers - that is fare paying passengers, car park receipts, income from tenancies etc it comes to £9,000m (or £9 billion).

this represents 69% of the total cost of £13,000m
the remaining 31% is made up of government support


train companies made a combined profit of £170m
as a percentage of their income of £8,400m this is 2%

Network Rail made a surplus. This isn't really a profit - its either the result of having completed all its obligations under budget and/or it could be that some of the work expected has not been carried out and some money is left over. Network Rail is a not for profit company so this can be spent on improvements or used to reduce borrowings.