BRITAIN'S biggest train company is bidding to reunite wheel and rail for the first time since privatisation by offering to maintain its own tracks.

First Group believes that the rail network will never be punctual and efficient while one company runs the trains and another controls the tracks.

Moir Lockhead, First's chief executive, has drawn up plans to test the reintegration of track and trains in Scotland, where the company already runs all services except those crossing the border. He also proposes to extend the idea to train franchises in England where one company dominates a region, such as South West Trains or First Great Western.

The original franchises, created a decade ago when the railways were privatised, have been simplified in the past three years to reduce the number of places where companies overlap.

With only one train company operating in most areas, there is less need for a national track body to balance the competing needs of rival operators.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Lockhead said that the current system, under which Network Rail controls all 21,000 miles of track, meant the best interests of passengers were often overlooked.

He gave the example of a signaller, employed by Network Rail, deciding to direct a train to a different platform at the last minute, forcing hundreds of passengers to cross a bridge.

"I have seen this happen and it causes mayhem as people struggle up the stairs with heavy luggage. We would put a stop to that immediately if we ran the tracks."

Mr Lockhead said that splitting up the network into a series of regional operators responsible for both track and trains would also allow costs to be compared.

Network Rail spends £5 billion a year maintaining the track, compared with the £2 billion in today's money that it cost British Rail to run the same network.

Mr Lockhead said Network Rail's monopoly on the tracks prevented the public from knowing whether it was getting value for money from the subsidy paid to the company. "We are not seeking to own the track, simply to be contracted to maintain it," he said.

Train companies frequently complain that poorly organised engineering works by Network Rail result in long delays, particularly when night works overrun into the morning peak period. The Department for Transport privately accepts that there are merits in First's proposal, but believes the railways need a period of stability before further reforms are considered. Ministers privately concede, however, that the present structure is not ideal.

Network Rail is reluctant to share any powers.. John Armitt, its chief executive, said: "What investment is Moir Lockhead going to make when his objective is to sweat the assets and get what he can out of the system over his seven-year franchise?

"Fundamentally, he is a short-term operator with a long-term asset. It would be a disastrous approach, like going back to the days of Railtrack. It would be more rational for us to go and lease the trains."

Last week Network Rail rejected a bid by Merseyrail, Liverpool's train operator, to maintain the 60-mile self- contained network that it uses.

This month Network Rail admitted that it would not achieve its target of 90 per cent of trains running on time until 2010. The current annual average is 86 per cent.