THERE was outrage last night that Britain's rail chiefs are in line for massive pay bonuses.

The rail unions said the revelation that executives of the not-for-profit company which replaced Railtrack could receive bonuses of up to 80 per cent of their basic salaries was a return to the "fat cat" era.

But Network Rail defended the decision, saying the bonuses would be paid only if tough targets for train services and other aspects of the rail business were met.

It also said that given the performance of the industry of late it was "not expected that significant incentive payments would be payable for this period".

But rail unions immediately condemned the news, saying that it was "proof of a re-emergence of a fat cat culture".

Network Rail revealed that its chief executive, John Armitt, is receiving an annual salary of £450,000. The other executives entitled to bonuses for the six months to March 2003 are the deputy chief engineer, Iain Coucher (whose salary is £400,000 a year), the group finance director, Ron Henderson (£300,000), the project and engineering director, Peter Henderson (£300,000), and safety and compliance director, Chris Leah (£300,000).

No bonus figure has yet been worked out for 2003-4, but a Network Rail spokesman said it would be different to the 80 per cent 2002-3 scheme and would involve about 25 more executives, taking the total to about 30.

A spokesman for the train drivers? union, Aslef, said: "It is extraordinary that the fat-cat culture which helped to cripple Railtrack should be making a re-emergence in Network Rail.

"These bonuses have not been discussed by the stakeholders and public representatives of Network Rail, which is a public interest trust.

"Our view is that the senior executives are already paid sufficient to ensure they reach performance targets without needing the added inducement of massive bonuses."

Network Rail?s chairman, Ian McAllister, said: "This incentive plan will reward senior executives only if they deliver significant improvements in rail network performance. If performance does not improve, there will be no bonus payments."

He added: "This scheme directly links executive pay to success in meeting three key challenges facing the rail industry - improving performance, tackling costs and delivering our vision of engineering excellence.

"It is essential that Network Rail is able to attract and retain senior executives of the highest calibre.
"That means we have to be able to remunerate them accordingly but only if the travelling public enjoy a measurably better rail network."