THE boss of a new direct train service from York to London said passenger numbers are growing, with customers praising staff for their friendliness and trains for their spaciousness.

But Tom Clift, managing director of York-based Grand Central, said it still is not ready to launch a full three trains a day timetable following further problems with rolling stock.

Mr Clift said the company had been receiving very positive feedback since launching its service on the East Coast Main Line last month, a year later than originally planned.

He said passengers had singled out three aspects particularly for praise - the friendliness of its staff, the value for money of the tickets and the feeling of spaciousness within the carriages, which have seats with extra legroom.

The Grand Central route starts in Sunderland, with passengers picked up at stations including Northallerton, Thirsk and York on its way to and from London.

But with only one train in service, the company is currently operating only an interim timetable, providing one service a day from Sunderland to London and back. Only on the York to London section are there two services a day.

The company said earlier this month that a second train was on the verge of going into service, which would have allowed for the launch of three non-stop services a day.

It said then that a second train had been assembled and was set to undergo testing, and providing testing did not expose any problems that needed resolving, the second train would go into service before the month was out.

But Mr Clift said today one of the power cars was defective and needed repairs.

He said even when that problem was resolved, he did not intend to launch the second train straight into service, saying he wanted to keep it as a back-up for the train already in service.

Only when a third train was ready for use would the company launch its full timetable of three services a day each way.