Letter: Babies on trains: Branson's pledge

Sir: Stephen Gray (letter, 21 March) challenged me to be the first rail magnate to introduce baby-friendly carriages on our trains - an area where children had somewhere to play, be fed, changed etc. on long journeys.

I'm more than happy to take him up on his challenge. As our new fleet of tilting trains is introduced we'll make sure at least one cabin is devoted to "kids' class".

As a matter of interest, we attempted to introduce something similar for older children on Virgin Atlantic some 10 years ago but the Civil Aviation Authority felt (perhaps correctly) that for safety reasons it was better to keep the kids with their parents.

RICHARD BRANSON

Virgin Management Ltd

London W11

PS - I also 100 per cent agree with the letters you have published about breast-feeding. If someone is sad enough to be offended by someone breast- feeding it is they who should go to the other end of the train. Should they refuse they should perhaps learn the art of hitch-hiking.