Why British train companies are laughing all the way to the bank 💰 #uktrains #money

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]In 2020, passenger numbers collapsed overnight. I wonder why. The government stepped in and guaranteed private train operators a profit regardless of how many people turned up. 310 million pounds of taxpayer money handed over as profit on essentially empty services.

[00:00:19]The companies were free to pass that straight to their shareholders. On top of that, another 300 million in public money was spent covering operators losses from strikes. The government was paying private companies so they wouldn't lose a penny.

[00:00:35]This is all on top of the 11.9 billion the taxpayer already puts into the railway every year, nearly half of its total income. That's seven times what it cost to run British Rail before privatization.

[00:00:50]The fares went up, the public funding went up. The only thing that went down was the risk for the private companies.

[00:00:57]The full video is on this channel.