In any business, to save money you look at the largest costs and see what is best saved from there. Over 50% of the cost of the railway is a) staff and b) leasing and maintaing trains.
There are lots of nice options to reduce small amounts of expenditure but if ultimately demand is at 30% and hardly rising currently and let's say only reaches 50% in the next 6 months, there need to be some quite radical decisions. These may include in my view (not saying I agree).
- <SNIP>.
- Control Periods for NR to be better regulated, similar to how they work for Highways England.
- <SNIP>.
HS2 doesn't cut operational costs which are the problem. Or you have a massive push towards getting commuters back but the cultural shift has happened and while 2021 may see more regular commuting, I doubt it will be near the levels of pre-Covid ever again. Society, employers and employees have seen the benefits, many commuters won't accept the old service any more so it requires a reshaping and soon.