Bowker will replace Phil White as chief executive of NEG, which is the UK's second biggest train operating company after FirstGroup PLC and runs a national coach network and buses in a number of British cities, the Times reported.

Bowker stepped down from his position as chairman of the SRA after the government said it was planning to abolish the authority and take direct control of the awarding of rail franchises.

Prior to his appointment at the SRA, Bowker, who trained as an accountant, was a director at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin group.

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Bowker to take over at National Express

Daily Telegraph: 24/05/2006

Richard Bowker, the former chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, is to become chief executive of National Express, the UK's second-largest train and bus operator, when Phil White steps down in September.

Mr Bowker, 40, headed the Strategic Rail Authority between 2001 and 2004, and joins National Express from the Partnerships for Schools.

National Express, founded as a state-owned bus company in 1968, is expanding through acquisitions. The London-based company in October bought Spanish bus operator Alsa for £262m, adding 93m passengers. The company said today that business this year is meeting its expectations, without giving further details.

Mr Bowker is "well placed to take the group forward to the next stage of its growth," National Express said in the statement.

At the SRA, Mr Bowker was in charge of regulating the private rail companies - from timetable planning and assessment of line-by-line capacity to enforcement of safety standards. He received £250,000 a year and left with a £500,000 pay-off.

Previously, Mr Bowker had been an executive at Virgin Rail. In 2005, Mr White was paid £1m in pay, bonus and benefits.

National Express generates almost 70pc of revenue from operating railway franchises in the UK, where it runs trains serving central, southwest and northern England. The company lost out in December to FirstGroup in bidding for the Thameslink- Great Northern and the Great Western franchises.

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Ex-rail chief boards National Express

Independent Online: 25 May 2006
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor

Richard Bowker, the former chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, was named yesterday as the new chief executive of the train, bus and coach group National Express.

Mr Bowker, 40, will take up the £1m-a-year job in September when Phil White, National Express's long-serving chief executive, retires after spending the past decade running the business.

A controversial choice for the post in some people's estimation, Mr Bowker lost his job as the most senior official in charge of Britain's railways when Alistair Darling scrapped the SRA in 2004 and took responsibility for the strategic direction of the network and the awarding of passenger franchises back into the Department for Transport.

Mr Bowker was regarded as a tough-talking figure who clashed not only with ministers but also senior figures in the industry, notably the chief executive of FirstGroup, Moir Lockhead, who was incensed after the SRA kicked it out of the bidding process for the Greater Anglia franchise.

David Ross, the National Express chairman, rejected suggestions the board had taken a risk in appointing Mr Bowker. "Obviously, as part of the proper process we did our due diligence and Richard would not have been appointed unless we thought the commercial risk and reward was worth it," he said. "There was only one choice for chief executive and he is it. We are delighted with his appointment."

Mr Bowker said he had spoken with ministers and DfT officials in recent weeks and they were "genuinely looking forward to working together again".

Speaking of his three years at the SRA, he said: "I got asked to do a particular job which was very clear and involved banging heads together to get things done. We did in the end get things sorted out, like the west coast main line and the power supply to the Southern network, by direct intervention and some tough talking. The truth is that, despite all the stuff that was said, 99.9 per cent of the time, I had an excellent, open, transparent and businesslike relationship with government."

Mr Bowker, a former chairman of Virgin Rail before he joined the SRA, said some people would take his appointment as a sign National Express would begin to focus more on rail, having seen FirstGroup overtake it as the country's biggest train operator recently. But he said he had an open mind and highlighted the way its coach business had come on in leaps and bounds, in particular with the £461m acquisition last year of Spain's biggest long-distance coach operator, Alsa.

"I believe passionately in the customer and I believe the transport industry has a lot to do to deliver a consistent, high-quality customer service," he said.