A SHAKE-UP of the watchdog which represents train passengers will not be to the detriment of the travelling public, it has been claimed.

As revealed in The Northern Echo, the new Rail Passengers Council (RPC) will be more focused on individual rail franchises and Network Rail routes.

Regional committee offices, including York where six staff are employed, will close in the summer.

But Stewart Francis, chairman of the RPC, said "passenger link managers" would be employed for each franchise to help secure improvements.

The new organisation, set up by the Government's Railways Bill, is designed to help passengers obtain better value for money, boost passenger involvement in its work, deal with complaints and publish an annual national passenger survey.

Mr Francis said: "Passengers feel strongly about their rail services and we want to ensure that their voice is being heard.

"In working with the industry and holding train companies properly to account, we will make sure that passengers are at the heart of the decision-making process."

The move has been criticised by Anne McIntosh, Tory MP for the Vale of York, amid fears that passengers in the North will lose out.

And a source close to the RPC said: "The new organisation will be very much London-centric and its emphasis is bound to be on the majority of passengers who travel on the South-East commuter routes.

"The people in the regions will be so thin on the ground that they will not possibly be able to represent passengers in the way they do now."