Rail plans come under fire

Network Rail is in charge of maintenance

Bosses at Virgin Trains have joined Scottish politicians in slamming plans to put upgrading work to the west coast main line on hold.

The response came after Rail Regulator Tom Winsor said Network Rail, the company responsible for the upkeep of the UK's railways, needed to slash £2bn from its budget.

He said a £1bn saving could be made if the £9.8bn upgrade of the line, linking Glasgow and London, is put on hold for a year.

But Virgin's chief executive Chris Green said he was "deeply concerned" by the recommendation.

"We have invested £1bn in new, tilting trains and we now desperately need modern infrastructure from London to Glasgow to deliver a reliable 125mph tilting railway.

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"Applying stop-go tactics at this eleventh hour can only damage the rail industry.

"We shall be responding vigorously in the consultation process," said Mr Green.

The west coast project is designed to reduce journey times between London, the Midlands, the north of England and Scotland.

Mr Winsor's report, published following an investigation by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton, says there should be a pause in the project to address "identified problems".

The report also said there was a "critical lack of knowledge about the condition of west coast main line assets and poor definition of the work required for enhancement schemes", making it difficult to forecast costs accurately.

Economically isolated

The Scottish National Party's transport spokesman, Kenny MacAskill, said Scotland risked being "socially and economically isolated" if the work did not go ahead as planned.

He added: "Unless we proceed, we put back the construction of the line and Scotland is the loser because it's the line north of Manchester that will not be upgraded and Scotland will be left further socially and economically isolated.

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"The executive and the transport minister have given commitments and these must be adhered to - we need the west coast line and we need it now."

Tory transport spokesman David Mundell said Network Rail had "botched" the west coast upgrade.

He added that the west coast main line upgrade was badly needed and should be put back up the agenda.

A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said Mr Winsor's decision was "clearly a disappointing move" - but vowed to lobby for the work to continue as planned.

She said: "This is a consultation document with a final decision not expected until the end of the year and we will be pressing over the next few months for work to start as scheduled."

Pay rises

And George Muir, director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said it may be better to press on with the west coast upgrade now rather than postpone it.

At Network Rail's first annual general meeting, held on Wednesday, 51 people appointed as public members of the not-for-profit company had their first chance to question Railtrack's successor.

One of their main priorities was the controversial system of bonus payments that executives could receive if train punctuality improves.

If it radically improves, five senior managers would get pay rises totalling £1m.

Network Rail has warned in its 10-year business plan, published in June, that its 14,000-strong workforce could be reduced to 12,000 by 2006 - a saving of almost £13bn - as it struggles to meet government targets.