A decision on the future of the East Coast mainline railway franchise will be announced very shortly, Transport Secretary Alistair Darlinghas announced.

The issue was raised at Commons question time by York MP Hugh Bayley who said: ''There is no doubt that GNER has performed substantially better than any other train operating company.''

He said 20,000 members of the public had written in supporting the company's bid.

''GNER's current franchise ends in just a few weeks time. Do you agree that the current uncertainty should be ended as soon as possible ?'' he asked.

Mr Darling said a substantial number of representations had been made to him about the franchise.

''I hope to make an announcement in relation to the franchise very, very shortly,'' he added.

Tory Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) said the vast majority of constituents who had written to her also favoured the GNER bid.

''The franchise should not just be awarded on the basis of value for money but also for customer service,'' she said.

''Can you respond to a newspaper report that GNER is being asked to pay £100 million to your department. On what basis would that be ? Shouldn't that money go towards improving an already excellent service ?''

Mr Darling said: ''At some point we have to be able to get some money in from at least some of the train companies because we do pay out large sums of money to other operators, who aren't in that happy position.

''I find it odd that a Conservative should be advocating that we don't accept money from people taking a franchise.

''I'm well aware of the representations and people's feeling in respect of GNER. I expect to be in a position to make an announcement in the very near future.''