LNER: Strikes and storms cost train line over £50m

The impact of a series of severe storms and continued strike action cost London North Eastern Railway (LNER) more than £50m during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.

The train operator said industrial action in the year to 31 March, 2024, reduced its revenue by £25.9m while extreme weather also impacted its revenue by £13.1m – largely as a result of the 11 named winter storms in the 12 months.

LNER added that train performance and revisions to engineering works also reduced its revenue by £3.8m and £11.4m respectively.

York-headquartered LNER is owned by the Department for Transport and has operated the east coast mainline since June 2018.

As well as LNER, the Department for Transport’s DfT OLR Holdings owns Northern Trains, Southeastern and Transpennine Express.

Newly-filed accounts with Companies House have revealed that LNER’s total revenue rose from £824.2m to £866.5m during its latest financial year.

From passengers, LNER generated a revenue of £764.7m, up from £674.8m, while its revenue from other sources fell from £149.3m to £101.7m.

The new results also show that its pre-tax profit stalled at £6.6m.

The percentage of LNER trains that were classed as on time in the year fell from 59.2 per cent to 56.6 per cent while the number of cancellations rose from 4.6 per cent to 4.8 per cent.

LNER also paid a dividend of £20m to the Department for Transport, having not issued one in the prior year.

LNER reveals ‘challenging year’

A statement signed off by the board said: “2023/24 has been another challenging year for LNER.

“The biggest challenge for the business has continued to be the uncertainty caused by the industrial relations landscape.

“2023/24 continued to see a significant number of days where the timetable has been impacted by strike action, as whilst a deal was reached between the industry and the RMT and TSSA unions, strike action from members of the ASLEF union has continued.

“LNER has continued to look to operate as many services as possible on these days.

“However, this has been significantly less than our normal timetable and has created a level of disruption and uncertainty to our passengers, exacerbated by strike action on other days from connecting operators.

“Operationally we have also been challenged during the winder of 2023/24 by a number of significant weather events including 11 named winter stores (2023: two) which has resulted in disruption, particularly in the Scottish part of our route.”