COMMUTERS' contributions to the cost of the rail system have been laid bare in new figures.

Some of the lines with the busiest routes into London made tens of millions of pounds for the taxpayer last year - while others required hundreds of millions of pounds in subsidy.

Overall, the public purse pumped £2.3 billion into the rail system in 2013-14 - down from £3.2 billion in 2009-10 as the Government shifted more of the burden to travellers.

The breakdown of subsidy levels for each train operating company emerged after it was announced that regulated fares are due to go up by an average of 3.5% next year.

According to the DfT figures, the most heavily subsidised operator last year was Northern Rail, which received a net injection of £707 million.

That equated to a subsidy per passenger mile of 51.5p.

CrossCountry received £315 million overall - giving a subsidy per passenger mile of 15.6p.

By contrast South West Trains returned a surplus of £64.1 million, 1.7p for every passenger mile travelled.

The public purse was £93.7 million in the black from its dealings with First Capital Connect - 3.9p per passenger mile - and East Coast had a £19.9 million surplus, equivalent to 0.6p per passenger mile.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: "Phenomenal growth in rail passengers is helping train operators to pay £2 billion a year back to government - five times more than 15 years ago - with government choosing to reinvest this money in further improving Europe's best network.

"Government support for the industry is declining and per journey is the same or lower than in nine of the last 12 years leading up to privatisation."

© Press Association 2014