Cyber attack on Britain’s railways would cost £1.8 billion a week
A systemic cyber incident on Britain’s rail network would cost the country £1.8 billion a week due to lost productivity, recovery costs, and cascading disruption across critical services.
The data, published in a new government transport resilience report, comes as the Department of Transport wars that cyber resilience and preparedness must form an integral part of that business planning.
“Whilst cyber risks can manifest as malicious threats, they can also manifest as non-malicious threats. Organisations must consider cyber standards to ensure the operation of essential services, including identifying vulnerabilities and mapping internal critical interdependencies for targeted resilience-building efforts, as well as establishing robust response and recovery plans,” the department said.
“Government is publishing a National Cyber Action Plan, which will set out concrete actions to strengthen the UK’s cyber security and resilience. The Department for Transport will work with industry to improve cyber security across the transport sector, including arm’s length bodies.”
Interconnectedness is a benefit and a threat
The department specifically highlighted concerns that disruption in one part of the transport system can rapidly trigger knock-on effects across other routes, modes, and sectors, demonstrating how risks and impacts can cascade through the wider network and amplify overall disruption.
“A resilient transport system is not simply one that avoids failure, but one that limits the spread of disruption and enables rapid, prioritised recovery of critical flows. Transport faces many internal interdependencies: between assets and operations, transport operators and infrastructure owners, passenger and freight services, strategic and local networks, and physical and digital control systems.
“Within the rail system, the creation of Great British Railways, bringing track and train back together under public ownership, proposes to mitigate some of these challenges,” it said.
Passengers made 1.73 billion rail journeys in the UK between April 2024 and March 2025. Network Rail already uses its Intelligent Infrastructure system, which draws on trackside sensors and train-borne monitoring equipment, to predict failures before they happen.
The department said it is also building digital twins, virtual models of the transport network that it plans to use for resilience planning and crisis response.
