THE railway industry's most powerful man has delivered a stinging rebuke to claims that the North-East is the country's poor relation when it comes to funding.

Richard Bowker, chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, said it was "totally and completely wrong" to say that nearly all of the £33bn in the Government's ten year plan for rail was being directed to London and the South-East.

He also dashed the hopes of campaigners battling to save a number of under-used services in the region which are set for the axe by stating that the battle to reduce costs was the "first priority".

Passenger groups and MPs have been angered by plans to slash direct services between Saltburn, Middlesbrough and Newcastle, meaning passengers will have to change at Darlington, and reduce the number of trains on the Durham Coastline.

Last month the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Committee also warned that "cutback after cutback" was seriously jeopardising the region's economic regeneration.

Mr Bowker said it was common sense to focus limited resources on parts of the network used by the greatest number of passengers.

He said: "Of course the busiest routes should receive higher levels of investment than rural routes and branch lines.

"This has led to allegations that we are creating a 'two class' network, we are not.

"It is common sense to put more resources where they deliver most value, as any other business would do as a matter of course."

The SRA chief recently addressed leading rail industry figures at a summit jointly organised by the North-West and North-East Rail Passengers Committees.

The North-East RPC says the North-South divide will only be widened by the Government's rail spending plans and says the funding gap must be bridged.

But Mr Bowker said that huge levels of investment were already being made in the north with £10bn being spent on modernising the West Coast Mainline.

He also cited spending on new trains by Virgin Cross Country, GNER and new TransPennine express operator FGK, which is to plough £100m into a new fleet.

The "lion's share" of Government subsidy for local train services was already given to the north despite the fact that they carried a disproportionately lower number of passengers than in the South-East, he added.

Ian Walker, secretary of the North-East branch of campaign group Rail Future, said: "Like many groups we are disappointed with the stance of the SRA and in particular vigorously opposed to branch line cuts.

"Through services between Teesside and Newcastle, for example, are absolutely vital in linking two big conurbations and should not be lost."