NETWORK Rail chief executive Iain Coucher has hit back at critics who claim the modernisation of the West Coast main line will not be ready for the new winter timetable, which starts on 14 December.

His remarks, in a letter to a major regional newspaper in Birmingham, follows an interview in which Tony Collins, Virgin Trains chief executive, casts doubt on assertions that the railway will be functional by the date.

Virgin is launching its new VHF – Virgin High Frequency – services on 14 December with three trains an hour to Birmingham and Manchester and many other service improvements.

Mr Collins said ‘the jury was still out’ on whether passengers would have a better service in the future.

But Mr Coucher replied: “Only in Britain could we belittle the achievement of completing a £9 billion engineering project on time – a project which is set to transform travel across one of the busiest travel corridors in the country, benefiting many millions of people.”

He accepted that there had been ‘problems along the way’, and that further improvements and regular renewals of worn-out assets would continue.

But he added: “Come Sunday 14th a new era will unfold on the West Coast main line as Virgin sees its weekend services almost double.”