Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made a comparative estimate of the cost of the railway industry in (a) England and (b) other European countries.

The Office of Rail and Road publish annual statistics on rail industry finances (including sources of income and expenditure) by country and network rail region:

Table 7216 – GB Rail Industry Finances since 2015-16 by country And NR Region | ORR Data Portal

In 2021-22 total expenditure on the operation of rail services in England was £20.9 billion. This was split by Network Rail expenditure (£9.5 billion) and franchised train operators (£11.4 billion).

The Department has not made comparisons with rail costs in other countries. However, some expenditure on rolling stock and railway infrastructure information is collected by Eurostat:

Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu)