In a new report, the body found that public expenditure has been rising steadily in recent years, with the railways receiving £5.1bn from taxpayers in 2019–20, a 99.7 per cent increase in real terms from 2015-16.
This burden on public funds has been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic – since March 2020, an estimated £8.5bn has been provided to the system.
Statistics from the Office of Rail and Road in October showed that the number of rail journeys in the UK dropped by more than 400 million between April and June last year sit at levels not seen since the Victorian era.
The PAC urged the Government to make “tough choices” and determine priorities for the future of rail as well as implement measures to ensure a net zero railway.
Electrification of the network is the key mechanism for delivering rail decarbonisation, the report found, which will require significant investment of between £18bn to £26bn.
“The Department’s track record on rail electrification...