Network Rail back in the black
Network Rail returned to a pre-tax profit in the year to the end of March.
The £1.5 billion profit compared to a £1.14bn loss a year earlier.
The change was almost entirely due to the impact of lower inflation on Network Rail's debt and borrowing costs which was down from £4.2bn to £2.6bn.
Revenue increased to £11.6bn from £10bn in 2022-2023.
Chief executive Andrew Haines, chief executive, said: "Over the past year we have been working hard on building a better, simpler and greener railway for Britain. Running the national rail network comes with undeniable challenges, severe weather being the one that stood out over all others in the last 12 months. I am hugely proud of the achievements of the thousands of colleagues who work skilfully and tirelessly to keep passengers and goods moving safely whatever the elements throw at them."
He added that while train service performance has shown some signs of improvement on key parts of the network, there was much more to be done and that remained a key focus for Network Rail.
"We are seeing far wetter and more volatile winters, our summers are less predictable, and our railway – built mostly on Victorian foundations – is vulnerable under these changing conditions and so we are significantly increasing our investment in climate resilience over the coming five years," Mr Haines said.
Investment was up from £6.5bn to £6.8bn for the year.
Chief financial officer Jeremy Westlake, said: "Network Rail met its revised five-year target of £4bn planned efficiencies from its cost base. This exceeded our original five-year target by £500m. We delivered another £1.1bn this year against the start of control period cost baseline. We remain focused on further increasing productivity by reducing our cost base by another £3.9bn in the period 2024 to 2029.
"As we regain the confidence of our customers the industry's reliance on taxpayer's support will reduce. In the meantime, the Government continues to support our industry and our direct customers, the passenger and freight operating companies, have continued to pay amounts owed to Network Rail on time."
