Northern Trains has reported a revenue milestone of £1bn for its latest financial year, navigating through what it described as “uncertain and challenging times”.
For the year ending 31 March, 2024, the rail operator recorded a total revenue of £1.07bn, an increase from £982.6m in the previous 12 months, as reported by City AM.
According to accounts recently submitted to Companies House, revenue generated from passengers climbed from £316.4m to £359.7m.
The company, with its headquarters in York, operates under the ownership of the Department for Transport.
In addition to Northern Trains, DfT OLR Holdings, which is part of the Department for Transport, also manages LNER, Southeastern, and Transpennine Express.
The financial year saw Northern Trains receive a higher subsidy from the Department for Transport, totalling £648.4m, up from the previous year’s £597.6m.
The accounts further reveal a slight decrease in Northern Trains’ pre-tax profit, which fell from £9.6m to £8.7m.
Operational performance metrics indicated a decline, with on-time arrivals within three minutes dropping by 1.3% to 79.1%, and train cancellations increasing by 1.1% to 5.3%.
Despite these challenges, Northern Trains has experienced record performance levels.
A statement from the board read: “Despite an uncertain and, at times, challenging operating environment, Northern heads into 2024/25 in a period of growth.”
“Passenger revenue has now recovered from the pandemic and we are seeing revenue up by 14 per cent year on year.”
“This has been driven by five per cent volume growth and nine per cent yield improvement, delivered with a focus on commercial activity.”
“In periods of operational stability, Northern has reported record results for both revenue and demand, including the business’ busiest ever Saturday and strongest ever full week of trading.”
Northern added: “As with the rest of the rail industry, the high inflation environment due to global events over recent years has put a significant focus on our cost base and level of subsidy required to operate our services across the North.”
The provider said that higher inflation and energy prices added a further £54m to its costs, up from an extra £30m in the prior year.
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Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
