Prescott: I got it wrong over Railtrack

John Prescott admitted today that he "took a gamble" over the railways - and lost - when, as transport secretary, he tried to reform Railtrack.

As he struggled to defend the Government's transport record, amid huge hostility from commuters over long delays and concern that poor track repairs could lead to another major accident, Mr Prescott acknowledged that in 1997 when he took on the transport job he had taken the wrong decision over the trains.

In a radio interview this morning he said: "Where you could have proper criticism of me is, I took a gamble, I put it to the party conference that we would try to make Railtrack work. I brought in a new Strategic Rail Authority and I gave power to the rail regulator to fine them but Railtrack was so badly flawed, they couldn't implement (change) on the rails."

But he also accused the media of concentrating only on the problems of the railways, saying that far more people were leaving their cars and travelling by train and bus.

"We are now desperately trying to put in massive resources, through Gordon Brown's competency with the economy, but it is long term," he said. There had been decades of under-investment which they were now trying to correct with their 10-year transport plan.

But there was only lukewarm support for the present Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, who is reported to be facing the sack over his handling of the decision to take Railtrack back into administration. Mr Prescott said: "I'm sure that Stephen is doing the most difficult job you can. He is now facing up to the fact that Railtrack is badly flawed."

The rail industry ends a disastrous year with fresh warnings today that sub-standard track repairs and inadequately serviced trains could lead to another fatal accident. An official report by engineering consultants Ove Arup, commissioned by Railtrack after the Hatfield derailment in October 2000, warns that heavy trains could still cause track to buckle under pressure.

Two of Railtrack's senior managers said much of the national network is worn out and lacking basic repairs. John Curley, head of the Great Western zone, said the system was "half a dozen engineering resignations away from shutting down" because morale is so poor. Michael Holden, director of Railtrack's Southern Zone, said the system will become even less reliable if the Government insists on a 50per cent increase in passengers in the next 10 years.

Aidan Nelson, standards director of the national railway safety body, said it was imperative that no more trains are put on the network until maintenance is improved. He said "more must be done" despite the fact that instances of broken rails have fallen significantly over the past two years.

Further worries emerged today with a train driver alleging that some speed restrictions are being removed before track is fixed "in order to meet performance figures for Railtrack without any remedial work having been carried out".

Such warnings will further undermine public confidence. February's fatal Selby rail crash, a host of near-misses and worsening delays have left the industry's standing at an all-time low.

The Ove Arup report criticised "systematic failure" in track maintenance stretching back to 1994. "The quality of work is often below accepted standards. The fundamentals of sound and proven railway engineering are often being neglected," it said.

The report was described by Bob Smallwood, deputy chief inspector of the railways, as a "damning indictment of railway maintenance, procedures and performance".

Railtrack today did not dispute the report, whose preliminary findings were published in April, but stressed that much work had been done since. "The report is eight months old. It is a critique of past history. We have introduced many initiatives, such as new contracts for maintenance contractors, quadrupling the amount of 'rail grinding' of track, and spending a third more on investment this financial year," a spokesman said.

Guards and station staff on South West Trains are scheduled to strike on Thursday and Friday, continuing on Monday and Tuesday next week.