SRA to be axed in rail shake-up

ANOTHER dramatic shake-up of the rail network is expected to be unveiled by Transport Secretary Alastair Darling this week.

The revamp - the fifth in seven years - will effectively axe the Strategic Rail Authority and hand back power to the Department for Transport for the first time since privatisation in 1997.

And it means that the department's senior civil servant, David Rowlands, will now ultimately run the railways. He was the architect of rail privatisation and the brains behind Railtrack, the discredited precursor of Network Rail.

The SRA was set up to provide overall strategic direction and leadership for the railways.

Now Network Rail, the not-for-profit group that has responsibility for the tracks, is poised to gain more power over the train operating companies.

A new independent agency will take over the role of the SRA in deciding which train companies run the various franchises.

Health and safety issues are expected to come under the control of the Rail Regulator.

The latest overhaul is bound to alarm passenger groups - not least because managers at Network Rail, who have been awarded huge bonuses despite failing to meet punctuality targets, are being given an even greater say in the running of the railways.

The Treasury will also be concerned that Network Rail is being given even greater powers, despite failing to control costs, especially on the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line between London, the North West and Scotland.

The abolition of the SRA means that chief executive Richard Bowker will be out of a job. Bowker, 38, the guitar-strumming friend of Tony Blair, used to run Virgin Rail before being asked to take over the SRA. He is expected to find another role in the industry.

Bowker had called for the abolition of the SRA and the creation instead of a powerful body running the track and train companies. It appears his ideas were ultimately rejected by Darling.