ONE hundred million passengers have travelled with GNER since the company began running high-speed rail services on the East Coast Main Line.

The York-based company, which celebrated its seventh birthday yesterday, estimates that passengers have travelled more than 13 billion miles on its trains since it won its original seven-year franchise in 1996.

In an assessment of its performance over the past seven years, GNER chiefs said they were satisfied, but felt there was more work to be done.

In 2002, GNER secured a two-year franchise extension until 2005 and is delivering £100 million of improvements to trains and stations to improve further the quality of its service and to continue to attract more passengers.

Plans are well under way for a major station modernisation programme, including a new passenger lounge and customer-friendly travel centre at York.

Christopher Garnett, GNER chief executive, said: "Our self-assessment on the past seven years would be 'good, but can do better'.

"There is a lot to be proud of and much has improved in a relatively short time. We are carrying more passengers on more trains to more destinations, and employing more on-train staff who are delivering better levels of service.

"We are still in the early stages of our journey to transform train travel and we will never be satisfied when there is still room for improvement.

"The past three years have been difficult, and at times tragic, but the next 12 months will bring major improvements to passengers as our spending programme gathers pace.

"I am confident that we will continue to grow, attracting more passengers and building upon our award-winning standards of customer service."

Updated: 10:34 Tuesday, April 29, 2003