Busiest rail line to close for months as ministers 'get a grip'

Minister unveils long-awaited revamp for the main line on the west coast that will give commuters long delays next year

The Government made a desperate attempt yesterday to "get a grip" on the chaotic rail industry by ordering months of closures on the west coast main line and by indicating that private-sector influence could be severely reduced.

In his most controversial decision since becoming chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, Richard Bowker insisted on wholesale shutdowns of the main London-Glasgow route next year to ensure a much-delayed modernisation project is finished.

Passengers who are already suffering 18 weekends of closures on the route must now endure a 17-week shutdown next summer of a 40-mile stretch of the line between Colwich in Staffordshire, via Stoke-on-Trent to Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester.

A second, four-month, closure will come into force between Crewe, Cheshire, and Cheadle Hulme in early 2004.

A section of the track between Euston station in London and Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire will be closed for nine days – including two weekends – over the August bank holiday 2003.

Mr Bowker said that, because of the drastic measures, passengers would see a "significant" improvement in journeys by September 2004. In two years' time, trips between London and Manchester would take about two hours 15 minutes compared with the present two hours 40 minutes. Until now, decisions about closures have been left largely in the hands of contractors working for Railtrack, although the infrastructure company itself has been trying to play a more interventionist role.

Delays in the scheme have meant Virgin has not been able to operate its Pendolino trains in tilting mode as soon as it had planned. Journey times can be shortened by tilting trains on lines where conventional trains have to slow down to negotiate bends.

In a separate move, Mr Bowker decided that the train operating company on one of Britain's busiest commuter networks would not, after all, be given primary responsibility for modernising track.

The authority will take charge of the £1.5bn project on the South Central area, which was due to be led by the new franchise holder, GoVia.

Two electrification schemes costing a total of £150m will not be going ahead – the Ashford-Hastings line in Kent and the Uckfield branch line in East Sussex. Mr Bowker has also decided to reduce GoVia's projected franchise period from 20 years to a maximum of seven years from next January because the network in the region was faced with a period of "uncertainty". Mr Bowker indicated that the SRA could take similar powers to drive through infrastructure improvements in other areas. He said his officials were currently in talks over the network in the South West Trains franchise area.

He insisted his measures to "get a grip" on the industry did not constitute renationalisation. The SRA would be deciding which projects should be undertaken and the private sector would be responsible for delivering them, he said. Mr Bowker insisted there would be no additional burden on taxpayers and the SRA's heightened involvement would mean that loans from the money markets would be cheaper.

He said there was no need to offer train companies the 20-year franchises previously envisaged by the Government to ensure long-term investment. The SRA would be a "constant" and it would make primary investment decisions.

Train companies should concentrate on providing a good service, while others took the risk of leading big capital projects. He said: "It is not a nationalised railway and it is not going to be a nationalised railway. We want franchisees to deliver the basic services. I still find it incredibly annoying to travel on trains with dirty toilets and go on services where you don't get proper announcements."

His decisions over the west coast main line yesterday attracted most controversy, including his refusal to attach a price tag to the project. Originally, the scheme was costed at £2bn but yesterday Railtrack sources said it could reach £13bn. The SRA has already awarded Virgin a £100m "stabilisation package" to help with loss of revenue and Mr Bowker indicated further payments were envisaged.

Mr Bowker's tenure as head of the SRA will depend to a large extent on his ability to produce the improvement on the west coast on the dates specified and without any further increase in the cost.

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, said closing stretches of line for longer periods would reduce costs. "This is a line that needed investment for some 30 or 40 years now. We are finally getting control of the costs of the project," he said.

He said the new measures would allow trains to run at 125mph by 2004 rather than 2006 under previous plans.

Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, said line closures, of whatever duration, would cause the business community problems, but were necessary.