Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the levels of (a) total public subsidy, (b) premium payments to his Department from the train operator, (c) Network Grant, (d) passenger revenue and (e) revenue support during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018.

The estimates made with regard to the levels of (a) total public subsidy can be seen in the tables below. The yearly figures have been rounded, hence the Total Period estimate appears greater than the sum of yearly figures.

Actual figures for (a) total public subsidy during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 will be published on the Office of Rail Regulation’s (‘ORR’) website at http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/browsereports/1 at a later date.

The estimate of (b) premium payments to his Department from the train operator during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 is nil.

Within the Franchise agreement there are 3 bands of profit sharing. Should LSER reach the 1st band and each subsequent band, monies are paid to the DfT; each band reached results in an increase in payment to the DfT.

With regard to (c) Network Grant, this is paid directly to Network Rail, not the train operators.

The estimate of (d) passenger revenue during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 is commercially sensitive and cannot be published.

The ORR have recently started to publish actual passenger income by Train Operator, and this can be found on their website, http://orr.gov.uk/publications/publications-a-z?search=G, titled ‘GB Rail Industry Financial Information’, and is published by year.

The estimate made with regard to the levels of (e) revenue support during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited is nil.