Richard Bowker, the chief executive of National Express Group, put himself on a collision course with rail unions yesterday when his company took over the East Coast intercity route, promising faster journey times, significantly improved punctuality and a tight grip on costs.

One of the company’s first actions has been to tell managers at the rail franchise, which was previously run by GNER, that they will be reorganised. In a letter to the managers, the bus and rail group said that its restructuring would create a “smaller, more efficient organisation supporting our frontline staff”.

A spokesman for the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association said that he was concerned about National Express Group’s intentions, particularly as there had already been a cull of managers this summer. He said: “This is not a top-heavy organisation. We want to sit down with management and discover what their plans are.”

Mr Bowker would not comment on whether redundancies would be necessary, but rival operators said that job cuts of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent might be needed. Mr Bowker also denied that the restaurant service, employing about 150 chefs, would be cut.

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He said: “I want to get in there and talk to people. We want the East Coast to be the best and the most efficient railway and we want to grow it.”

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said: “The franchise system is a mess and has to go, and we give fair warning that we will resist any attacks on our members’ jobs, pay and conditions.”

National Express Group is under pressure to pay a record premium of £1.4 billion to the Department for Transport over the life of the franchise. This is even more than GNER bid for the line in 2005.

GNER was forced to give up the franchise after its parent company, Sea Containers, got into financial difficulties, but it was also having difficulty meeting its internal targets for increasing traffic, partly because of terrorist bombs in London.

Mr Bowker told The Times that his priority was to improve the trains’ punctuality. The network is the worst performing train operating company, with 80 per cent of trains arriving on time. National Express Group wants to reach 89 per cent, the industry average, by the end of the first year.

To help to improve punctuality, the company needs its trains to leave King’s Cross on time, and it has struck a deal with Network Rail that is designed to minimise delays caused by engineering works.

It needs to increase traffic significantly if it is to meet the £1.4 billion premium payment, which is understood to be at least £200 million more than the next closest bidder offered.

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