RAIL union RMT says that a review of the rail industry ordered by the government will be a “stitch-up.”

The Williams Rail Review was ordered last year following the shambolic handling of the industry by former transport secretary Chris Grayling.

Dubbed “Failing Grayling,” he oversaw the introduction of chaotic new timetables, late and cancelled trains, and rip-off price increases imposed by private operators.

But RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the long-awaited review by former British Airways boss Keith Williams was likely to be “wholesale sell-out to the private operators, tightening their grip on the rail network through the creation of a business-loaded quango designed to push the industry further away from public control and accountability.”

He said: “Ignoring the wishes of two-thirds of the British people on the central issue of public ownership leaves this whole costly and time-consuming review process stinking of a stitch-up.”

He called on new Tory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to abandon privatisation and return rail to public ownership.