THE bitter franchise battle for operating trains linking the region with London and Scotland is far from over despite GNER being awarded the contract for the next ten years, it was claimed last night.

Vociferous rail campaigner John Davison, of the passenger and freight watchdog group Railfuture, has launched an attack on GNER claiming other operators may have lost business because of poor connections.

Basing his attack on GNER's growth figures, which showed a ten per cent passenger increase in the past year, Mr Davison says it is because the company has made it difficult for other operators to run trains with the required connections.

Detailing his own experiences, he cites journeys to Lincolnshire where he has found connections between the GNER's East Coast Main Line and Central Trains to have come into conflict.

He said: "Some of the apparent growth could be illusory. Passengers may be choosing to buy separate tickets from various train operators as a way of reducing their overall fare.

"Hitherto, they would have bought one through ticket from the first station or local train crew encountered."

GNER chief executive Christopher Garnett has dismissed the claims against his company.

He said that in contrast to the allegations, his company is improving services.

He said: "We are planning to run more services between London and West Yorkshire and will continue to encourage more people to travel on off-peak trains where there is spare capacity."

Mr Garnett added: "We have increased passenger numbers by 34 per cent since taking over the service in 1996 and we expect numbers to rise by 30 per cent over the next ten years."

GNER is paying the Government £100m a year for the new franchise, which starts next Sunday.