Rail watchdogs at loggerheads over £7bn upgrade of west coast route

SRA chairman Bowker takes grip on day-to-day management of train operators

A furious row has broken out between Britain's two most senior rail industry regulators over the £7bn modernisation of the West Coast Main Line.

Richard Bowker, the new chairman of the Government's Strategic Rail Authority, has approved a deal to carve up capacity on the line which will give the lion's share of access to passenger train operators, led by his former company Virgin Trains.

However, Tom Winsor, the Rail Regulator, is understood to be angry at Mr Bowker's attempts to usurp his authority and has made it clear that the final decision rests with him.

Under the 1993 Railways Act, it is the duty of the Rail Regulator to determine the allocation of capacity on the network by approving access agreements between Railtrack and train operators.

But after a series of meetings late last week with the various train operators on the line, Mr Bowker has drawn up a "strategic plan" for how capacity will be shared out. "There are a couple of i's to dot and t's to cross but we are close to the point where an announcement can be made," Mr Bowker said.

He maintained that the blueprint he had approved was consistent with the Government's target of increasing the amount of freight carried by rail by 80 per cent over the next 10 years.

But freight operators, led by English Welsh and Scottish Railways are furious that not enough capacity has been given to freight and are likely to lodge an appeal with Mr Winsor. Nearly half of all the freight carried by rail travels on the west coast mainline at some point. EWS estimates that if the Bowker plan goes ahead it will mean 16,000 additional lorries on Britain's roads. The blueprint approved by Mr Bowker would give Virgin access to 10 train "paths" an hour and EWS access to three paths.

A senior rail source said: "They can't all have what they are asking for because you can't get a quart out of a pint pot. This has all the makings of a real fight."

Mr Winsor's assertion of his independence comes amid signs that the SRA is being used by ministers to re-impose state control over the railways. Mr Bowker said he intended to take a grip on the network by appointing a chief operating officer to deliver "leadership and management" of the 25 train operating companies.

"The operation of the trains will remain a privatised industry but we do have franchises with the operators and we would be derelict not to have someone who takes a grip on how those franchises are being managed," Mr Bowker said. "Up until now the SRA did not realise it had to deliver leadership and management on a day-to-day basis. Within the next few months you will see an organisation which has a grip on the day-to-day running of the rail industry."

He denied, however, that the SRA planned to "micro-manage" the train operators or that it was intent on "taking over the world".

Other senior appointments will include a managing director of strategic planning, a managing director of transactions, a new finance director and a media director. Mr Bowker said that he had been amazed at the quality of candidates applying for the job of chief operating officer and hoped to fill the key post within the next few weeks.

Mr Bowker denied that he was usurping Mr Winsor. "I think the Rail Regulator has a fundamentally important role to play ensuring that the price of the outputs delivered by Railtrack is properly calculated," he said.