Branson's golden boy keeps subsidy flowing

It was Richard Bowker's career at Virgin Trains as Sir Richard Branson's golden boy that led to the Government appointing him to head the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) last year while he was still in his early thirties.

Industry-watchers have scrutinised his every move ever since for evidence of favouritism towards his former employers. This week it emerged that he is to subject the long-suffering passengers of the west coast main line operated by Virgin between London and Glasgow to further misery by shutting parts of it down for two summers in a row.

The decision, made in order to speed up work that will allow Virgin to operate its tilting trains on what is Britain's busiest long-distance route, has only intensified interest in Mr Bowker.

Only a month ago Virgin Trains received an extra £106m of subsidies to "deliver stability" to the company. There may be yet more public money made available to an operator disliked by the public for its shabby trains, steep price hikes and erratic service.

The Rail Passengers' Council demanded a public inquiry into the SRA's financial agreements with Virgin as well as its plans to relax caps on fare rises when the company has, for instance, raised the price of its standard-class London-to-Manchester return by 75 per cent since 1998.

"Where is the public accountability in all this?" demanded Stewart Francis, the council's chairman, who also called for a full explanation of what is happening on the west coast main line.

Improvements to this rail artery, described last week as the most incompetently managed major infrastructure project in Britain since the war, are nearly two years behind and costs have increased fourfold to almost £10bn.

The smallness of the world of railways is illustrated by the fact that one of Mr Bowker's closest aides is Jim Steer, the SRA's managing director of strategic planning, who was Virgin's consultant on putting together its franchise bid, including a promise to pay the Government a £1.5bn premium over 15 years for the use of the west coast line.

Far from money going into public coffers, the Government is now handing ever more subsidy to Virgin Trains. As one railway insider put it: "Jim Steer's projections were wildly optimistic, and we're all now paying the cost."

Virgin's links with rail regulatory bodies do not stop there. Richard Haughton, another ex-Virgin consultant, is expected to join the SRA shortly, while Tom Winsor, the Rail Regulator, was Virgin's lawyer while the west coast deal was negotiated.

Mr Bowker's relationship with the SRA director on the board of Network Rail, Railtrack's successor, also goes back a long way. David Bailey was Mr Bowker's boss when he started his transport career at London Underground.