[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Taf

Profiteering at its worst. If the service is popular they put fares up. If it's poor they put the fares up. So different times or locations mean different costs, all on a bizarre formula that can be beaten by multiple ticket stages (as shown recently in the media) but often means a ticket bought today is far more expensive than one bought in advance.

And some still receive government financial aid whilst their bosses make small fortunes!

The vast majority of revenue from fares pays for services and sustains investment in more trains, better stations and faster journeys. On average, 97% of a passenger’s fare goes back into the railway. The table below shows how every £1 of passenger income is spent.

Source

Although the source is the stagecoach site I've heard this as a general figure and it's not much different to the supermarkets.

The rail company profits may look big as numbers as they have a massive turnover. For those advocating nationalisation even if the railways continued to run as efficiently as now and the state took no money out then tickets would fall by a maximum of 3% - the profit margin of the franchisees.