Letter: Rail firms on track

Sir: Jonathan Bray's letter (22 April) does not do justice to the extensive system of rural services guaranteed by the Passenger Service Requirements. The big picture shows that train operators are running more services all the time.

In the last three years more than 1,000 new train services every day have been launched and many of them are on rural, semi-rural or cross- country routes. Some of these new initiatives prove to be popular and successful but others fail to attract enough passengers and are withdrawn, so that we can go on to fund other routes which are more successful in attracting passengers.

Growth and change are to be expected of the expanding, dynamic industry that rail has become, and are hardly a cause for national mourning. Dark hints about "a second Beeching" are particularly ill-judged since more people are travelling by train now than at any time since Beeching wielded his axe.

GEORGE MUIR

Association of Train Operating Companies

London WC1