HARDLY has Jonson Cox, former Yorkshire Water managing director, settled into his new post as chief operating officer of Railtrack, when there is speculation over his experience.

But that is to underestimate the toughness of the man who last December oversaw the decision to axe 500 jobs at Yorkshire Water.

The speculation followed the quitting of Railtrack's beleaguered chief executive Gerald Corbett with a £1 million payoff, and his quick succession by Steven Marshall.

Just as quickly the government has instructed Sir Alastair Morton, its rail supremo, to take a long, hard look at Railtrack management, a process which began yesterday at a two-day meeting with Mr Marshall and Mr Cox.

Commentators suggesting this was a government ruse to take back control over Railtrack, say that the task is made easier because of the lack of experience of both Mr Marshall and Mr Cox, who have been at the railway infrastructure company for only a matter of months.

Mr Cox, who left Yorkshire Water at the beginning of April, was today said by a Railtrack spokesman to be "too busy to agree to interviews".

But a spokesman for Railtrack insisted that Mr Marshall and Mr Cox both had the right experience for their jobs.

Mr Marshall was necessarily well-respected in the City, whose help was being sought by Railtrack towards financing a £3 billion package of improvements before the end of its financial year.

"Mr Cox is an experienced businessman, used to working in an operational environment in a customer-focused regulated industry like ours. He has a huge, highly experienced operational back-up team," he said.

The spokesman played down speculation that the Government planned a takeover of power through rail supremo Morton.

He said: "Yes, he has been meeting our board, but a meeting was pencilled in ages ago to discuss workstations in the wake of the Hatfield disaster. Since then there have been board changes and the agenda may have altered, but I want to play down any suggestion that Sir Alastair Morton was waiting for us at our desks."

Mr Cox's departure from his £135,000 job with Yorkshire Water came amid turbulent change, not least the decision by parent group Kelda to make a "top to bottom" job cull in answer to a call by water watchdog Ofwat for a 14.5 per cent cut in the average household bill.

It was a decision he stood by in the face of criticism by the Transport and General Workers Union, as well as Unison, that Yorkshire Water was choosing to lose jobs in order to protect shareholders' profits.

He also weathered the protests that followed the overturning of shareholders' wishes at the company's annual meeting in July, 1997 - and go ahead with a new bonus scheme for senior directors.

After board members used the proxy votes of corporate shareholders, the scheme which meant some executive directors earning the extra equivalent of their annual salaries, was approved.

Mr Cox, succeeded by Kevin Whiteman as Yorkshire Water MD, was said to have always intended to step down once he had completed the company's first five-year asset management planning programme.