Germans 'will Make Trains Run on Time'

A little bit of German magic could be all it takes to make Britain's trains run on time, according to Chancellor Schröder's state secretary for transport.

Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned railway firm, has teamed up with Virgin and Stagecoach for a bid to take over GNER's inter-city trains on the east coast mainline. The proposal is on a four-strong shortlist compiled by the Strategic Rail Authority.

Ralf Nagel, the German government's senior transport official, said if successful, Deutsche Bahn could lift punctuality on the London to Edinburgh line from its present 73% to German levels of 94%.

"There is a discussion in Britain about how to raise punctuality from about 80%," said Mr Nagel.

"In Germany, we are having a discussion about how to raise punctuality from 94% to 96%. Deutsche Bahn will have ambitions to bring it up to the same punctuality rate here as it is in Germany.

Otherwise customers will ask 'why can you do it at 95% in Germany and only 85% in Britain?'"

The bid is likely to propose a degree of vertical integration, with a degree of re-connection between the management of the track and the trains.

Mr Nagel said: "Infrastruc-ture management and capacity management is included in the bid." At present, train operators have no involvement in track work, which is under the control of Network Rail.

The SRA said yesterday the government's rail review may alter this arrangement by September - the deadline for the east coast mainline bids.

Mr Nagel said if punctuality were as bad in Germany, travellers would "demonstrate, write to ministers, complain to the management and to their MPs - and they would stay away."

The other shortlisted contenders are FirstGroup, the Danish rail firm DSB and the incumbent operator, GNER.