LACK of Government cash could hamper plans to give Kent passengers a better railway service, the president of Sea Containers has warned.

James Sherwood said he was worried that the Government would not give enough essential investment capital.

Speaking at the announcement of a deal between GNER, the East Coast Mainline operator owned by his group, and MTR Corporation, the operator of commuter services in Hong Kong, Mr Sherwood complained that Government-granted franchises were too short.

He said: "MTR is probably the best company in the world at delivering punctuality and service and GNER will provide the British dimension.

"I think it's all good for Kent and the only thing that could hamper the development of Kent is Government policy.

"I'm very worried that there's no more money for railways. Unfortunately, money has to be spent."

The problem is compounded by short franchise deals, he said. A typical 10-year deal was not long enough to encourage the operator to invest for the long term.

He urged the Government to copy the example of Peru, where his company operates trains on a rolling 40-year basis.

"We would really like franchise to be of a long enough period so we could invest,” he said. If we had a 50-year concession, we could raise a substantial amount to invest.

"But with these short franchises, its very difficult to put in the large capital investment that's difficult to recover in the short term.

"In Peru, if we perform well every five years, we get a five-year extension. We always have 40 years as a minimum period so we can develop investment and get a much better railway."

But even without a long-term financial guarantees, the Great South Eastern Railway, the new name for the GNER/MTR bid, would still give passengers a better deal if it won the bid for the integrated Kent franchise, Mr Sherwood pledged.

Meanwhile, railway planners at GNER in Britain and MTR in Hong Kong are working up their bid for the Kent franchise.

GNER chiefs believe the MTR connection - under Government rules, MTR is restricted to a 29 per cent stake in the joint venture - will give them a strong bargaining chip in their attempt to win the tender.

Chief executive Christopher Garnett, who previously worked for Eurotunnel and lived in Biddenden, forged the link after stopping off in Hong Kong after attending his daughter's wedding in Australia.

He was impressed by what he saw, believing MTR expertise would help GNER work up plans for running short-distance services on the congested North Kent commuter network.

He said: "It is about bringing together two companies with very complementary skills and experience who together can really make an enormous difference for Kent."

MTR operates trains on 88km of track, coping with 2.4m passenger journeys on one of the world's most densely-used railway systems, and achieving 99.9 per cent punctuality.

Phil Gaffney, managing director, said: "Together, we should be able to make a difference for Kent passengers.

“We think that, with GNER, we can deliver to the Kent franchise significant improvements in key areas of rolling stock reliability and providing clean, safe, secure travelling environments, stations and trains."