Private rail companies have trousered £1.8 billion since 2016

Private rail companies have quietly extracted £1.8bn from the railway in dividends since 2016.

Rail union RMT has published the new analysis to mark the first anniversary of the Passenger Railways (Public Ownership) Act.

And the findings reveal the sheer scale of cash leaving the system under privatisation.

The report shows more than £510 million was paid out during and after the pandemic and £190.6 million in 2023/24 alone.

Wealth leaving the rail network

This is wealth leaving the rail network and going into private shareholders’ pockets, instead of helping to strengthen and modernise the railways.

RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said:

Nearly £2bn has been taken out of the railway to line the pockets of shareholders and private company bosses.

Even during the pandemic, when operators were entirely reliant on public funding, dividends kept flowing out of the industry and often leaving the country altogether.

The Public Ownership Act is a major step forward and we need Great British Rail as soon as possible to bring track and train together to ensure every penny is reinvested in a railway run for the interests of rail workers and passengers.

Where’s it going?

Key findings from the report include:

FirstGroup’s rail operations extracted £203.7m post-pandemic, including £60m from Avanti West Coast, and spent £92m on share buybacks in 2025 with another £50m planned for 2026.

Govia paid out £154m, mainly from its Thameslink operations, even after losing its Southeastern franchise for financial misconduct.

Transport UK, the rebranded Abellio, took £114m from three rail franchises now back in public hands.

Arriva, owned by a Luxembourg-based private equity firm, paid out £35m, almost all from CrossCountry.

Meanwhile, publicly owned LNER returned more than £90m to the Treasury.

Featured image via the Canary