Virgin chairman to head Strategic Rail Authority

The co-chairman of Virgin Rail, Richard Bowker will be appointed this week by Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, to take over the Strategic Rail Authority to enforce Government strategy in the wake of the collapse of Railtrack.

The co-chairman of Virgin Rail, Richard Bowker will be appointed this week by Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, to take over the Strategic Rail Authority to enforce Government strategy in the wake of the collapse of Railtrack.

He replaces Sir Alastair Morton in the £500,000 post. Sir Alastair resigned in protest at Mr Byers' handling of Railtrack. It is understood that Mr Bowker, 35, agreed to take the post late on Friday and has discussed it with Tony Blair. It will be announced by Mr Byers as fresh evidence of the Government's readiness to work with the private sector.

Mr Bowker will play a pivotal role in the restoration of the railway infrastructure company as a not-for-profit trust. His appointment may also reassure investors frightened off after the Government decision to put Railtrack into administration. That was seen as a hostile move, which could make it harder for the new trust to raise the extra £30bn it needs from the private sector to match £30bn from the taxpayer. Mr Bowker, an accountant, joined Virgin Rail full time in 1998 and shares the chairmanship with Keith Cochrane, chief executive of Stagecoach which owns 49 per cent of Virgin Rail.

The authority's new chairman will appoint the first 15-member board of the trust. Some railway insiders believe Mr Bowker is one of the bravest managers in the industry to take on the task of knocking the Railtrack replacement into shape.

Mr Byers has said the authority's board would be filled by "key industry stakeholders". The Transport Secretary is facing strong resistance from Labour MPs to any moves to put the train operating companies, including Virgin, in charge of the new infrastructure trust. The appointment of a former Virgin Rail boss is likely to be criticised by some Labour MPs who believe it could represent a conflict of interests.

There is speculation in the industry that the authority could be merged with the Office of the Rail Regulator, currently held by Tom Winsor, who regulated Railtrack, set its income from track charges and levied penalties for performance failures.

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