YOU have chosen to publish another of Dr Enticknap's diatribes about GNER (July 12).

Unlike GNER, Virgin receives a subsidy from the Strategic Rail Authority (the chairman is an ex-Virgin employee) for its lease of both its new Pendolino and Voyager trains and, with them, lengthy franchise extensions until 2012. GNER has been given only piecemeal extensions which have not justified new stock investment.

In July 2003, the doctor's return trip to Truro of £107 included a taxpayer subsidy of nearly £86 and a Virgin "loss" of £11. For an equivalent £107 journey on GNER, the company would have paid the taxpayer nearly £10 and still have made a profit of £8 on the trip.

The good doctor wants a choice of operator between York and London so that we have "the option of voting with our wallets". I can tell him that he doesn't have an option: the SRA decides and at the moment too much of my wallet is the hands of Virgin.

I should be grateful if he would travel by GNER to Newcastle because it increases the income of the taxpayer.

Because GNER has received poor treatment from the SRA, the company has been obliged to take stop-gap measures to refurbish all its high speed train sets, all of its electric locomotives and to refurbish - one set at a time - its 12-year-old ex-British Rail coaching stock.

Train delays similar to the two Dr Enticknap describes are not uncommon (even with Virgin) but only one-quarter is attributable to the train operator. More than half are the responsibility of Network Rail.

GNER's punctuality is now about 77 per cent while Virgin Cross Country is about 81 per cent, while GNER still tops the customer satisfaction ratings for all long distance operators.

John Barrett,

Nether Way,

Nether Poppleton, York.

Updated: 11:17 Thursday, July 15, 2004