Robinson steps up war of words with the Government over Railtrack

The chairman of Railtrack last night launched his most outspoken attack yet on the Government, accusing ministers of being "unethical, if not immoral" in the way they decided to close the network operator down.

Speaking at the National Railway Museum in York, John Robinson said that dogma was once again overriding pragmatism and warned that the Government's plans for replacing Railtrack with a not-for-profit trust risked creating a "hybrid from hell".

Mr Robinson said: "The railway needs long-term vision and investment. I hope that is what it will get. The sketchy plans outlined so far by Government hold out hope but do they have a plan?"

He said that when the railways were nationalised in 1948 it was not done by the back door as the Government had on this occasion. Shareholders were recognised by the then Labour government and remunerated accordingly.

But this time the behaviour of Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, had been different. "Frankly, what the Government did was unethical, if not immoral. Trust and honesty are the basis of business relationships and government- to-business relationships. This was clearly lacking.

"Until 5 October we believed that Railtrack was negotiating with the minister and his officials in good faith," he said.

In fact, the Government had been pursuing "a different and in some critical aspects a wholly incompatible agenda of its own for several weeks".

Mr Robinson said the only reason Railtrack had gone into administration was because Mr Byers had decided to withdraw future financial support and renege on a £450m grant payment. Having "pulled the rug" from under Railtrack, Mr Byers was now intending to write a blank cheque to finance its successor company.

Government sources denied it had reneged on any deal, maintaining that the money had been available but Railtrack had not asked for it because it was reorganising its credit facilities at the time.