Extra Virgin

Columnist Kirsty Gunn is wrong to claim that Virgin and Stagecoach and have been “let off their obligations” with regard to Virgin Trains’ east coast rail franchise, or that our stewardship of the route has worsened services or led to job cuts (“Stagecoach make me so angry – I might just put them in my next novel”, Perspective, 19 February).

In fact, Virgin and Stagecoach have met their contractual obligations in full, including shouldering around £200 million of losses whilst not paying a penny in dividends.

Passenger satisfaction rates of 92 per cent, as measured by independent rail watchdog Transport Focus, are at the top of the longdistance franchise sector, payments to taxpayers have increased by a third compared with when the route was publicly run and we are more than halfway through spending £140 million on service improvements, including the complete refurbishment of train interiors in 2016.

Our timetable changes have delivered 48 additional services a week between Edinburgh and London and a new daily service to Stirling and, far from overseeing job cuts which have led to staff shortages, we have increased the number of people working for the company by 300.

These facts may not make for a particularly interesting next novel from Ms Gunn but in the non-fictional world in which we operate train services, we feel they are worth recording.

DAVID HORNE Managing Director Virgin Trains East Coast

Union Street, Glasgow