British households have underwritten the nation’s railways to the tune of almost £1,800 each over the past six years, new figures have revealed as unions prepare for a wave of Christmas strikes.
The precarious funding structure of the network and franchisees were laid by the Office for Rail and Road revealed that taxpayers pumped in £13.3billion in the year to March.
That was £4.3 billion less than the previous year – but £6.5 billion more than in 2019/20 and took the amount pumped in to the private network since 2016/17 to £50.4billion.
The Office for National Statistics says there are 28.1 million households in the UK, meaning a cost of £1,794 each in that period.
It comes after union bosses announced a further series of strikes across the festive period as they demand more money for drivers and other staff.
But the figures also reveal that in 2021/22 financial year firms paid out dividends to shareholders will receiving funding. Avanti, the much criticised West Coat…
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