RAIL unions have slammed the government’s railway review as a “fix” after the investigation’s head suggested the government should not be running Britain’s struggling privatised railways.

Keith Williams, who is carrying out a review of Britain’s railways for the government, told the BBC that a new, independent “fat controller” style figure should be in charge of the railways, and that the Department for Transport should not manage it.

He also indicated that a railway franchise should last longer than the current average of seven to eight years.