Qualifying locomotives for passenger and freight trains, and rail maintenance vehicles can use red diesel for propulsion. The Treasury does not hold information on the cost of rebated fuel used specifically by train operators.

To assist the Noble Lord, I can point to the most relevant published statistics available. HMRC’s non-structural tax reliefs publication sets out the overall estimated Exchequer cost of the rebate for red diesel (and kerosene used as fuel in an engine), while DESNZ’s Digest of UK Energy Statistics provides data on petroleum products consumed by the rail sector.

Although these publications do not provide a separate official estimate for train operators, they provide the best available published information on the overall cost of the relief and the scale of rail-sector fuel use.

Network Rail holds data on the estimated Schedule 8 costs arising from rail trespass incidents from 1 April 2014 onwards. The total value of the payments during this time can be found in the following table:

Volume of trespass related incidents and estimated costs of associated delays, annual, Great Britain, 2014/15 to 2025/26

Notes:

1. Incidents are delay causing incidents attributed to XA,VA reason codes

2. An incident can appear in more than one rail period if delay was suffered in more than one period

3. Costs are an internal Network Rail estimate of the long-term revenue loss due to those incidents (based on the economics behind the Schedule 8 performance regime)

Source: Network Rail

4. Delay & Cancellation metric dashboard

5. Process for Performance Improvement (PfPI) Costs are from the Performance System database Business Objects attribution universe

The Office of Rail and Road sets out Network Rail's expenditure for the financial year 2024-25. Network Rail does not invest capital in train operating companies.

Energy supplies used in certain forms of transport are exempt from the main rate of Climate Change Levy (CCL). This includes electricity used to electrify rail lines, light a railway carriage transporting passengers and light the cab interior of a freight train transporting goods.

Information on the estimated cost of tax reliefs, including CCL exemptions, is published on GOV.UK and can be found in the annual statistics on tax reliefs. However, it is not possible to provide the annual tax cost of exempting rail operators from CCL, as HMRC does not collect this information.

The Department does not hold centrally a list of the categories of management information recorded locally by train operating companies. Decisions on locally recorded management information are an operational matter for each operator.

Below is the available data for the number of short - formed services and the percentage based on the regime data for each operator. Please note that the percentages are not comparable and do not represent the total number of services for each operator.

LNER monitored services measured against All Weekday, Saturday and Sunday services.

SET monitored services measured as Peak services arriving in the morning Peak or departure in the evening peak at London Bridge, London Victoria, London St. Pancras International or London Blackfriars.

TPT monitored services measured against Weekday, Saturday and Sunday services at Manchester Stations, and Leeds.

SWR monitored services measured against All Weekday, Saturday and Sunday services.

c2c monitored services measured against Monday – Friday Peak Services.

Numbers for Period 2610 – Period 2702 is not currently available due to a technical issue; I will write to the Hon. Member as soon as possible with updated information and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

GA monitored services measured against Morning Peak Services and Evening Peak Services.

WMT monitored services measured as LNRBU Passenger Services and WMRBU

Passenger Services that are a Weekday, Saturday

and Sunday service.

GTR monitored services measured against services arriving in the Morning Peak or departing in the Evening Peak from Kensington (Olympia), London Blackfriars, London Bridge, London Kings Cross, London St Pancras international, London Victoria and Moorgate, as well as Brighton in the London Road and Hove directions.

N.B. Passenger services are only counted once for the purposes of Short Formations.

The department does not intend to publish operator-level comparisons of subsidy requirement against forecast ahead of the publication of Train Operating Companies’ final audited accounts and financial statements. This is because the underlying revenue and cost information at TOC level is commercially sensitive, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to disclose this information in advance of publication by the operators themselves.

Information on TOC financial performance is subsequently made available through the operators’ own published accounts and through the Office of Rail and Road’s annual financial statistical publications, which are published after the close of the relevant financial year.

(https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/finance/rail-industry-finance/table-7226-franchised-passen…

The department does not intend to publish operator-level comparisons of subsidy requirement against forecast ahead of the publication of Train Operating Companies’ final audited accounts and financial statements. This is because the underlying revenue and cost information at TOC level is commercially sensitive, and it would not be appropriate for the Department to disclose this information in advance of publication by the operators themselves.

Information on TOC financial performance is subsequently made available through the operators’ own published accounts and through the Office of Rail and Road’s annual financial statistical publications, which are published after the close of the relevant financial year.

(https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/finance/rail-industry-finance/table-7226-franchised-passen…

The £464.6m reduction to 2025-26 Estimates was on the assumption of an increase in revenue compared to 2024/25. Revenue outturn was lower than the 2025/26 forecast due to a number of factors, including changing consumer behaviour, with passengers taking more advantage of good value advance fares and increased use of railcards.

The Department does not hold this information. Covering staff sickness is an operational matter for the train operating companies.

The Network Rail / British Transport Police’s National Disruption Fusion Unit can supply Schedule 8 (delay report) costs for external (XA) trespass for the following:

The combined figure is £218,374,921.

The annual (by financial year) breakdown is as follows:

Working with the industry, the new Services Agreements for public sector operators consolidate the myriad of performance measures so that both track and train can focus on the same measures of success. The most important indicators are train cancellations and punctuality (as measured by how many trains arrive within three minutes of schedule). Targets are negotiated each year as part of the Annual Business Planning process with each operator, taking into account the particular circumstances foreseen in the year ahead. In addition, there are a number of measures and key performance indicators covering customer, operations and finance.

The 2025-26 final outturn for Support for Passenger Rail Services was £2,159.2 million. This represented an actual reduction of £399.1 million, which is 86 per cent of the forecast £464.6 million reduction. The outturn was fully funded from within the Department’s overall funding limits.

The rail passenger service subsidy funding is set on a net basis, including both costs and revenue. Changes are addressed through regular forecasting and business planning processes. Mitigations to address any overall subsidy pressure may include a range of options to drive revenue and manage costs, depending on the overall train operator’s portfolio position, the specific circumstances at the time, and the long-term implications and the size of the challenge.

The Department does not hold the calculated figures requested.

The Department has not issued any Notices to Improve on any of the DfT Operator train operating companies in January 2026 and in each subsequent month because none have been in breach of their formal contractual terms.

The DfT regularly engages with all operators on service performance and financial management, aligned with this Government's priorities on improving performance and reducing subsidy.

Each train operating company currently records this information in a different way – some by days lost and some by percentage absence rate. The figures below have been collated by DFT Operator. Figures cover periods in public ownership only.

Table 1:

Absences by days lost, presented by Rail Period

(Northern, TransPennine Trains, South Western Railway)

Table 2:

Absences by days lost, presented by calendar month

(Southeastern)

Table 3:

Absences by percentage, presented by Rail Period

(LNER, c2c, Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains)

The Department's priority objectives for train operators are to improve performance and reduce financial subsidy. It does not routinely publish specific instructions made to operators.

We have asked train operators to reflect how they will deliver these priorities in their plans for the next five years. The output of those plans will be published in due course.

Officials regularly update Ministers as part of every transfer of train operating companies’ services into public ownership. This includes discussions about the transfer of staff to the new public sector operator, which will be a subsidiary of Department for Transport Operator (DFTO), under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) process.

Establishing Great British Railways (GBR) is a priority for the Government, so the Secretary of State holds regular discussions with Ministers and officials. These discussions would include the transition into GBR of DFTO and Network Rail.

Public ownership is estimated to save taxpayers up to £110-150 million every year on fees currently paid to privately-owned train operating companies, once all services currently delivered under contract with the Department have transferred.