Now UK rail chief waives annual bonus

London - The head of Britain’s Network Rail, a state-backed body that runs the national rail infrastructure, said on Monday he had waived his annual bonus after opposition MPs urged him to show restraint over his pay.

David Higgins, chief executive of Network Rail, said he and other senior executives had decided not to take the extra payments and instead wanted the money to be spent on safety improvements at level crossings.

Higgins had become caught up in the wave of public anger about the pay of top managers, particularly those at state-supported companies, including banks that received government bailouts during the financial crisis.

Labour MPs had called on Network Rail bosses to reject their bonuses this year.

“I and my directors decided last week that we would forego any entitlement and instead allocate the money to the safety improvement fund for level crossings. I can confirm that remains our intention,” Higgins said.

Network Rail owns and operates Britain’s railway infrastructure, including the tracks, signals and bridges. Technically a private company with no shareholders, it receives big grants from the government each year.

Higgins’ decision comes after the bosses of the Royal Bank of Scotland bowed to political pressure and gave up their bonuses following high profile media coverage of the issue.

Prime Minister David Cameron urged majority state-owned bank RBS to show restraint on executive bonus payments in future. Britain stripped the former RBS head Fred Goodwin of his knighthood last week, adding to the febrile mood.