[Archive] Northern (Arriva Rail North)

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva Rail North

(14/12/2015 08:49)Dentonian Wrote:  I think my comments have been totally misunderstood. Under the current franchise, Abellio Northern carry 96 million passengers a year (wikipedia) and are paid £703 million (or £713 if you believe the London Guardian) of tax payers money. Therefore, on average, Northern passengers are subsidised by over *seven* pounds per journey. Down south its as little as £1 per journey. Yes, it is an average, with many passengers travelling medium distances on busy trains, effectively being subisidised to a much lower rate than those on quiet trains in more rural north Yorkshire, or short riders on the Hope Valley line. Nevertheless, it raises the question of whether those thinly used rural lines should be replaced by buses at a much reduced cost to the tax-payer.

While the token services and parliamentaries don't bring in much money for Northern, one of the big causes of the high subsidy is down to low fares in PTE areas, including free rail travel for over 60s. I've heard on the Rose Hill Marple to Manchester you'd roughly need a full 4 car 150 for a service to be profitable, but on other routes where most passengers aren't travelling on PTE tickets/passes a full 2 car 150 can be profitable.