Rail executives to pocket £900,000 to stay in jobs The additional retention payments were condemned by Maria Eagle, Labour's transport spokesman. Network Rail is a tax-payer funded body receiving nearly £4bn a year from the public to manage Britain's rail infrastructure. Senior managers should not demand additional retention payments simply to stay in jobs for which they are already well remunerated. Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the Transport and Salaried Staffs Association, also attacked the additional reward. The idea of paying retention bonuses at what is effectively a taxpayer funded public monopoly is simply ridiculous. We only have one national network so there is not exactly any direct competition for these three executives. No one pays for golden handcuffs is there is nowhere to escape to. This looks to us like a ploy to get around the fact that these people were not entitled to huge bonuses last year because of missed performance targets. But a Network Rail spokesman said the payments were justified. Our best talent was in real danger of being poached by big international firms. Recognising the huge importance of what this company needs to deliver - better train punctuality, reduced cost and expanding the railway to relieve congestion - retention payments for three key people were made to see through the delivery of our plans.