RICHARD BOWKER, the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, was determined to put a positive gloss on performance figures published yesterday. They could be his swansong.

His job is about to disappear along with the SRA itself in the Government’s rail review, due to be published in two weeks’ time.

Mr Bowker chose to focus on the “record level of investment in Britain’s railway over the past year”, but neglected to point out that the vast majority had come from the taxpayer.

The soaring subsidy consumed by the railways, up from £1.20 per journey under British Rail to £5.40 this year, is the main reason Mr Bowker is facing an uncertain future.

He was heralded as the saviour of the industry when appointed less than three years ago by Stephen Byers, then Transport Secretary. But like many people in the industry, Mr Bowker has learnt that Mr Byers’ assurances could not always be counted on.

When the Government created the SRA, it claimed it would take control of the industry and give it strategic direction, but it quickly became clear that the authority lacked the power to do this. It had only limited influence over the infrastructure, which was controlled first by Railtrack and now by Network Rail.

The Government now appears ready to acknowledge its mistake and announce that track and trains will both be overseen by a single agency attached to the Department for Transport.

Mr Bowker is in many ways the obvious candidate for the job of running the new Railways Agency. But he has a poor relationship with senior civil servants at the DfT whom he suspects were responsible for a series of damaging leaks against him.

He is highly respected in the industry and might prefer to return to one of the private companies. Virgin Trains, where he was co-chairman before joining the SRA, is about to have a vacancy with the retirement of its chief executive, Chris Green.

Mr Bowker has also suggested that he might like to run Network Rail. The company’s bosses have, however, strongly resisted the idea.

But Mr Bowker believes he is holding an ace in the tense poker game that will decide both his future and the future of the rail industry. He has the ear of Tony Blair and hopes that this will trump his opponents at the DfT and Network Rail. He is about to find out whether Mr Blair’s assurances are worth any more than those of Mr Byers.

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