IN typically combative style, Peter Johnston continues to show a lack of appreciation about the problems Boltonians have been having with rail services.

People have written in these columns about the Passenger Transport Executive and First North Western, and how let down they feel with stories highlighting the plight of inconvenienced commuters.

He brands me as ignorant about railways. Well, this is rich coming from someone who was a town hall councillor, now working for the PTE, which is hardly the same as working in the railway industry, as my grandfather did with the former LMS.

It is something of an own goal, Mr Johnston, for you to claim it is not necessary for manufacturers to make sure their expensive new trains work satisfactorily! I note that a number of the valid points I raised about First North Western were not answered.

A lecture on rolling stock history and the 1955 Modernisation Plan is not exactly relevant. In the four weeks to December 2002, First North Western's punctuality for Manchester North sector was just 75 per cent, or one-in-four trains arriving significantly late. Now that is what I call relevant!

While I have used trains since the 1960s, I am no longer a daily train user, but I experience difficulties and I know other commuters who do.

Peter Johnston has a lack of empathy for the legitimate complaints of rail users, but I hope his colleagues at the PTE can look after commuters' interests and that much improved services will be required for the re-issued rail franchise.

If Peter Johnston insists on telling me all about rolling stock, the Deltic was mainly an East Coast mainline loco; it would have been more loyal to have mentioned English Electric's Type 4 (Class 40), which was a superb diesel loco and common throughout our region.

S Pearce

Lower House Walk

Bolton