The founder of Virgin Trains Sir Richard Branson yesterday claimed that he can cut the journey times on Britain’s busiest route.

Branson said he could cut the London to Glasgow travel time by up to 50 minutes to three hours and forty minutes and the London to Birmingham route to under an hour.

Sir Richard added that this could happen if private rail companies were given twenty to thirty year franchises to ease the taxpayer burden.

The billionaire said “With public finances strained, the private sector will be crucial in driving rail investment over the next twenty years.

“Companies such as Virgin have transformed Britain’s trains into amongst the most modern in Europe but we’re running them on 19th century tracks and stations.”

But the RMT union’s Bob Crow said “Privatisation has been a disaster for the railways.”