The body that oversees the railways is set to unveil its long awaited "strategic agenda" for the future of the industry.

Sir Alastair Morton, the chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), will announce the development of the network over the next 10 years.

This includes a �60bn spending programme, which aims to build a safer, bigger better railway, carrying more passengers and freight, delivered through a public private partnership.

The agenda will also outline what could be a big reduction in Railtrack's role in managing and raising finance for major projects.

It will call for more investment by private groups, including train operating companies.

They would be expected to fund and manage large development schemes, then hand them over to Railtrack on completion.

Behind schedule

Private companies would be paid back through government grants and revenue sharing agreements.

But the rail authority is well behind its timetable.

A more detailed, strategic plan was originally due in May last year.

The authority blamed the delay on last October's Hatfield crash and the rail regulator's review of how Railtrack funds big projects.

The government created the SRA to plan a bigger network, carrying more passengers on more trains.

But the Institute of Directors (IoD) said at the time that the business community was "sceptical" about the effectiveness of the SRA.

"The creation of yet another quango will generate little optimism among our members, and I suspect the public at large," said spokesman Geraint Day.

"Even before the near chaos that started with the crash at Hatfield, nearly three-quarters of IoD members surveyed thought that the passenger and the taxpayer were not getting a fair deal on Britain's railways."