Pay rises for Britain's rail staff including train drivers will cost taxpayers £135million, the Government has confirmed following two years of crippling strike action.
Treasury minister Darren Jones revealed the figure was an estimate for salary rises issued since July 2024 for rail staff following Department for Transport (DfT) analysis.
He said the estimates reflect the cost above prior budgets for train operators and Network Rail, adding that the strikes had cost taxpayers £850million since July 2022.
Mr Jones confirmed the totals in Parliament after a question from Conservative MP John Glen, who asked 'what the gross cost was of the pay mandates for rail staff'.
DfT analysis found the cost of rail pay rises would be 'approximately £135million' between July and the end of the financial year in March 2025, reported the Daily Telegraph. But the overall financial impact of the backdated rises is not yet known.
It comes two months after the drivers' union Aslef accepted a bumper pay offer from Labour worth around 15 per cent over three years, with no conditions attached such as mandatory Sunday working.
The RMT also backed an inflation-busting 'no strings' attached 4.5 per cent pay hike for Network Rail workers and increases at train operators of 4.75 per cent for last year and 4.5 per cent for 2024/25.
Tory critics previously attacked the deal, pointing out they had provisionally agreed a 4 per cent hike with the RMT - with conditions attached - when in government.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh was also accused of 'emboldening' unions, with the Conservatives saying the unions knew 'that every time they go on strike Labour will cave'.
The RMT and Aslef repeatedly poured misery on travellers by going on strike for two years from summer 2022.
A DfT spokesperson told MailOnline: 'These pay rises cost the taxpayer significantly less than strikes did over the previous two years - not to mention the impact they had on hardworking people's day to day lives.
'The pay offer also allowed the Government to successfully end the longest running railway dispute in modern history, returning certainty to passengers across the country.'
In the latest development yesterday, London Underground train drivers were also handed inflation-busting pay hikes in what the RMT described as a 'substantial victory' for its members.
The union said it had accepted a pay offer it maintained had delivered notable improvements in terms and conditions.
Lower-paid Tube workers will receive pay increases of between 5 per cent and 6.6 per cent, with an average increase of 4.6 per cent, said the union.
Other improvements include extended paternity leave, three years' protection of earnings for medically displaced staff, and expanded travel benefits, the RMT added.
Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan was accused of caving in to union barons' demands, but Transport for London (TfL), which Mr Khan is chairman of, said: 'The deal is fair and affordable and RMT agreeing to it is good news for London.'
Ms Haigh said earlier this month that the Government hopes legislation for the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) – a new public sector body to hold responsibility for rail infrastructure and train operation – will be introduced in summer 2025, with GBR becoming operational by the end of 2026 'at the earliest'.
The nationalisation of all franchised passenger train services when existing contracts expire will be completed by October 2027, she added.
Ms Haigh revealed officials are 'substantially reforming and expanding the capability' of DfT OLR Holdings Limited (Dohl), the public sector body that acts as the owning group for operators when services are nationalised.
The long-running Aslef dispute was eventually resolved by the union accepting the pay offer in May - but not before 13,000 drivers had taken 18 days of strike action as well as refusing to work non-contractual overtime at 16 companies.
These firms were Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, C2C, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Northern Thameslink, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and Island Line, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains.
The UKHospitality industry body previously said businesses were estimated to have lost out on £3.5billion in sales as a result of the strikes.
