Challenging year for nationalised DOHL operators

DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL) the company which runs the nationalised train operators on behalf of the Department for Transport has released its annual report, showing it was a challenging year for performance as well as showing slow progress in cutting the subsidies paid for each of the four operators that it currently runs.

The report shows that revenue was up for the year, from £2.8 billion to nearly £3.5 billion across all four operators which includes Northern, Southeastern Trains, LNER and TransPennine Express (TPE).

Both Northern and Southeastern Trains received a higher subsidy from DOHL in 2024 than the previous year. Northern’s subsidy for the year was £648 million which is a significant jump on the £597 million it received the previous year. Southeastern Trains subsidy in the same period, marginally increased from 2023. DOHL subsidised the company £315 million in 2024, up from £308 million on the previous year.

TPE’s DOHL subsidy was the first time it had featured in the report, given it had transferred over to DOHL last year. TPE received a £174 million subsidy last year. LNER has reported a year-on-year decrease in subsidy received. It received £36 million subsidy last year. A sharp drop from the £96 million in 2023.

In the report, DOHL blamed the increases on a variety of factors including fluctuating passenger demand and a smaller timetable post-covid although both Northern and Southeastern Trains are close to returning to pre-covid timetabling and capacity.

Much like other non-nationalised train operators, DOHL has also struggled with the ongoing trade dispute with unions.

The report has also revealed that the industrial action has also hindered the operator’s performance throughout the year, for all four of the operators. This included Northern, who did not meet any of its performance targets set by DOHL the year before. Cancellations stood at 5.3% against a target of 4.2% of the 808,000 services which it had planned to run. LNER also recorded a slight increase in cancellations.

The report also showed that TPE’s performance had not altered much as it switched from rest-day working to a schedule without with DOHL blaming “poor Network Rail” performance as a significant contributing factor to its ongoing performance issues. This included timetable alterations and cancellations caused by major landslips in Dewsbury and Aycliffe as well as the urgent repairs needed at Plessey Viaduct in November of last year which had caused line closures for several weeks.