Half of the 530 civil servants involved in running the railways will lose their jobs as a result of the government's reforms of the system.

Transport secretary Alistair Darling announced that a new rail group in his department for would consist of between 250 and 280 staff.

The SRA now employs more than 400 people, and a further 100 officials at the Department for Transport work on rail.

One union, the moderate Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said it had "real reservations" about the depth of the cuts.