Shake-up signalled for rail firms

A MASSIVE shake-up of the rail industry has been proposed in a desperate effort to make London commuter trains run on time. Under the plan, the most radical since rail privatisation six years ago, the number of different passenger train companies serving London termini will be cut to one per station.

Nationally, the aim is to bring the current 25 train companies down to '10, six or even one', but it is in London, where passengers suffer the highest number of late-running trains and the most crowded conditions, that the plan will have most impact.

It will affect Victoria, Paddington, Liverpool Street and Euston - each currently served by more than one operator. Richard Bowker, 35, new chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, cited Liverpool Street, served by three operators - First Great Eastern, Anglian and WAGN - where the signal operator has to delay trains and allocate platforms according to which firm 'has the slot'.

The former co-chief of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains said: 'You have a train standing at a signal where there is a platform empty. What bonkers is this? Where we really have operational difficulties is at the London termini. Rail experts say managing capacity is harder to do where there is more than one operator.' The aim is now to have a 'much simpler railway', he said.

The different companies will not have contracts terminated but will, where appropriate, face huge 'persuasion' to merge.

Bowker also said there would be no more 20-year franchises - in future the longest will be 15 years and they will be subject to 'break-points' where, if operators are not performing properly, they could lose the contract. He refused to say how many operators he would like to see, saying: 'I don't know, it could be 10, six or one.'

He denied his plan was the first move towards renationalisation of the railways, but it does bear a striking similarity to the proposal put forward by John Major, who favoured splitting railways into five regions. It also appears to contradict Transport Secretary Stephen Byers's suggestion of short-term extensions for existing franchises.

Bowker said Byers was 'very supportive' of the new scheme, which could be implemented 'sooner' than five to 10 years. He will now meet passenger train chiefs to cut a deal. 'Sensible people will see if we can come to an accommodation...a deal will get done or it will not,' he said.

One of the first stations to be affected could be Paddington, used by 60,000 commuters a day and served by First Great Western and Thames Trains. Bowker said Paddington is 'not as efficient as it could be. It is saturated as to the number of trains we can get into it.' A single operator would ' manage the platforms better'.

Bowker dismissed suggestions a single rail operator would not be able to run both long-distance and suburban services on time. There may, he said, be some form of price control on fares to prevent an advantage being taken from the monopoly service. He said Railtrack's administration 'makes no difference,' to the success of the plan.