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Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Monday, 2 March 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 4 March 2026. It was answered by Keir Mather (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 March 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

TransPennine Express: Costs

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2026 to Question 106601, what the (a) operating revenue, (b) operating costs and (c) net cost of onboard catering were for TransPennine Express in each financial year between 1995–96 and 2024–25.

Answer

We are only able to provide data since the transfer into public ownership in May 2023. The data for 2023/24 (May onward) and 2024/25 are:

£'000

23/24

24/25

Catering Costs

5,205

8,668

Catering Revenue

1,077

1,897

Net Cost

4,128

6,772

The difference in cost is explained by the fact that 2023/24 is a part year, and 2024/25 is a full year, with the one-off implementation costs of TransPennine Trains’ (TPT) ‘Coast to Coast’ catering set up in that year.

Catering is a service offer on most of the longer distance operators, including TPT, whose core business is leisure travel, and where journey lengths are often in excess of two hours. Revenue generated by First Class, in which catering is an important feature, is also an important part of TPT's business model. The revenue numbers do not include fares income generated by the availability of catering on board TPT services, which are captured within TPT's wider reporting on revenues by route.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
116787
Session
2024-26
Related items
TransPennine Express: Costs
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Costs TransPennine Express
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk