Railtrack board gets £2m share options incentive

Railtrack directors were at the centre of fresh controversy last night after it was revealed that its senior executives had been awarded almost £2m of share options in the company.

The recently appointed chief executive, Steve Marshall, has been given options to purchase 127,014 shares.

Options were also given to the finance director, David Harding (173,775), and the business development director, Sebastian Bull (79,936), both of whom only joined the board in April. The technical director, Richard Middleton, who was appointed in November, received 53,080. The long-serving chief operating officer, Jonson Cox, was handed 90,047, and the safety and environment director, Chris Leah, 53,080.

All the directors will be able to cash in their options after just three years if the share price increases by inflation plus 3 per cent a year over the period. At present the shares are only marginally above their all-time low and some City analysts believe that prices could rise substantially over the next few years, giving the directors large profits.

Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef, said last night: "It is repugnant to seek to reward Railtrack executives through inducements to boost share price. The Railtrack board should be striving to improve safety and reliability on the railways first and foremost, not the share price."

The options were awarded last month, two days before it was revealed that the former chief executive Gerald Corbett had received a £1.4m pay-off after resigning following the Hatfield disaster in November.

Railtrack has already received £1.5bn in advance funding from the Government and is demanding a further £3bn to help finance safety works.

A Railtrack spokeswoman said: "The executive share option scheme is one of the toughest for a British plc. This scheme has been running for a number of years and will only benefit the directors if the company performs well."

Jim Beale, deputy chairman of the Rail Passengers' Council, said the timing of the award was "the last straw" after a number of controversial decisions by Railtrack over recent months.

Last night the Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, rejected MPs' demands to bring Railtrack back into public ownership.