Railtrack planned to axe 1,000 jobs

Railtrack was considering axing more than 1,000 jobs - around one in 12 of the workforce - under radical plans to reduce spending at the time it was forced into liquidation.

The job cuts, mainly in managerial and white collar areas, combined with other moves to reduce overheads by 10 per cent between 2003 and 2005 would have enabled the company to survive without extra Government cash, it was claimed.

A senior company source said: "All the cuts would have been in non-safety critical areas." Details are in confidential documents passed by Railtrack to the Financial Services Authority ( FSA), the City regulator investigating events leading to the company being forced into administration.

Meanwhile South Central's new operator, Govia, today introduced an emergency timetable to run beyond Christmas because it does not have enough drivers. About 100 trains a week, including rush-hour services into Victoria, have been withdrawn.

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