§ 58. Mr. J. H. Osbornasked the Minister of Transport of the deficit of British Railways of£153 million in 1967, how much was attributed to passenger traffic, and how much to freight traffic; and what was the loss expressed in terms of deficit per passenger mile and per ton mile and expressed as a percentage of the cost of these services, respectively.
§ Mr. MarshBefore taking account of profits on ancillary activities such as ships and hotels, the loss on passenger traffic and freight traffic in 1967 was£162 million, inclusive of interest and historic depreciation charges. Of this sum, the Railways Board allocate£79 million to passenger traffic and£83 million to freight traffic. These losses represent about 30 per cent. of allocated costs in each case, or just over 1d. per passenger mile and slightly under l½d. per net ton mile.
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§ Mr. Cordleasked the Minister of Transport what has been the British Railways' deficit in each of the last 10 years; and what recent estimate he has made of the deficit in the current year.
§ Mr. MarshThe figures of net deficit on revenue account are as follows:
BRITISH RAILWAYS* (under the British Transport Commission) £ million 1958 … … … 90.1 1959 … … … 84.0 1960 … … … 112.7 1961 … … … 135.9 1962 … … … 159.0
BRITISH RAILWAYS BOARD† 1963 … … … 133.9 1964 … … … 120.9 1965 … … … 132.4 1966 … … … 134.7 1967 … … … 153.0 1968 … … … 152 (estimated) NOTES:
* After central charges (mainly interest charges) but excluding interest which was charged to the special account in the years 1958 to 1962.
†Because of the changes brought about by the Transport Act 1962 and the adoption by the British Railways Board of different accounting arrangements, figures cannot be given which are precisely comparable with those for earlier years. The figures quoted are the Board's total revenue results and include surpluses on ships, harbours, hotels, etc.