Not tickety boo

You write, in your 3 December editorial, “The new year will see [rail] ticket prices rise by an average of 2.8 per cent. Passengers may wonder where – other than into the pockets of the shareholders – that money is going to go.”

I shall not for one moment rebut criticism of a rail operator which is about to abandon most direct services from Linlithgow and Polmont to Stirling, preferring passengers to change trains at Falkirk Grahamston.

But, in the interests of accuracy, Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the operator of Scotrail, made a profit of more than £12 million in the 2015 calendar year from its Scottish franchise, followed by a loss of £2.7m in 2016. Accounts lodged at Companies House show that it made a pre-tax loss of £17.9m last year.

I am sure the Dutch government wishes that it did, indeed, always benefit from its ownership of the Scotrail franchise.

SANDY SIMPSON

Erskine Hill Polmont, Stirlingshire