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Sadiq Khan’s bid to take over London’s suburban railways was halted in its tracks today.

In an exclusive interview, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said there was a danger of “deckchair shifting” with no real improvement for passengers.

The bitter blow to the Mayor’s devolution ambitions was delivered in a dramatic phone call soon before 10am.

Mr Grayling formally rejected Mr Khan’s proposal to take over Southeastern services from 2018, which would have been the first step towards Transport for London taking charge of all services up to the capital’s boundaries.

Sources close to the Mayor described the call as “short and businesslike”. Mr Khan accused Mr Grayling of blocking a plan that would have brought “desperately needed” improvements.

Speaking to the Evening Standard in his first major interview, Mr Grayling said Mr Khan had not managed to show he would deliver a better service for passengers.

“Right now I think the last thing our railways need in London is deckchair shifting without a clear sign that there is something better on the other side,” said the Transport Secretary.

Mr Grayling warned of a potential conflict between London’s needs and those of passengers from Kent and East Sussex, because long-distance and local trains share the same tracks.

“If you live in Guildford where’s the democratic accountability?” he asked. “Why should the Mayor of London be responsible for a train from Guildford or Dorking?”

“I’m ruling nothing out for the future, but right now I think the last thing our railways need in London is deckchair shifting without a clear sign of something better on the other side.”

In an olive branch, he invited the Mayor to help shape the next franchise for the Southeastern lines, alongside Kent County Council.

“I’m extend the hand of friendship to the Mayor and Transport for London,” he added. “I think we can achieve more through partnership.”

But he added, crushingly: “Let’s not go through a huge corporate reorganisation that is going to risk making the services more disrupted.”

Mr Khan’s plan, he said, amounted to “breaking up the railways in the South East on a scale that has not been seen since the 1920s”.

The decision is a huge blow to Mr Khan’s broader plans to beef up City Hall’s powers over planning and economic development.

He argued in a 99-page business plan that City Hall and Transport for London could do a better job of making London’s vital commuter trains run on time and sorting out delays and maintenance problems. Mr Khan claimed he could also deliver 80,000 new homes and new jobs growth close to stations.

In a statement Mr Khan said Mr Grayling was blocking the best plan yet to deliver the services London needs.

“The only proven way of improving services for passengers is giving control of suburban rail lines to TfL,” he said.

“There is cross party support for this from MPs, assembly members, councils inside and out of London and businesses and their representatives.

“Anything short of this simply won’t make the improvements desperately needed. It is a fact, TfL lines have more frequent trains, fewer delays and cancellations, more staff at stations and fares are frozen. We will keep pushing the government to deliver the rail devolution they have promised and that is needed.”

On London Overground delays reduced over three years of TfL control by 42 per cent. Devolution to TfL would also have borough suburban lines into the Mayor’s fares freeze.

Mr Grayling was accused of preparing Network Rail maintenance services for privatisation today. The Minister will tonight use a speech to set out plans to make Network Rail work more closely with train companies.

Mick Cash of the RMT union said: “This is the Tory Government dragging the railways back to the failed and lethal Railtrack model of the private sector running infrastructure.

“There is no question at all that this plan represents the piecemeal privatisation of Network Rail which, over a period of time, will see both operations and track run by the same bunch of companies who have failed so abysmally over the past two decades.”

Network Rail took over responsibility for infrastructure from Railtrack in 2002 after a series of fatal accidents, such as at Hatfield and Potters Bar.

But Mr Grayling accused the unions of being in “rampant strike mode”.

In other parts of the interview he criticised some of London’s cycle lanes and the behaviour of some cyclists.

He ruled out a cut in the drink drive limit, said 80mph motorways and road tolling were not on the agenda, and vowed to bring in smart ticketing to most rail lines within two years. He backed Crossrail 2 saying it could be part-funded by windfall taxes on developers.