VIRGIN TRAINS

'Virgin Trains' is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It is generally considered part of the Virgin Group, although the shareholding is actually split 51:49 between Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group.
The company was formed to take advantage of the privatisation of British Rail in the mid 1990s. Virgin Trains were successful in the bids for two franchises, the first being to run express train services on the Cross Country Route.^[1] This operation was called 'Virgin Cross-Country' (VXC) and runs long distance services which bypass London and link the south and south-west of England with the north of England and Scotland via Birmingham. The other franchise obtained operates on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). This part of the company is called 'Virgin West Coast' (VWC) and provides services from London Euston to the West Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Unlike most other train operating companies, Virgin operates the two franchises as a single brand, although legally and operationally, they are separate companies^[2].

Contents

West Coast Main Line service patterns

Cross Country service patterns

Performance

Grayrigg derailment

The past

The future

Virgin Trains routes

Current routes

Main Routes

Past routes

Rolling Stock

Current fleet

Past fleet

Bio-Diesel train

References

See also

External links

West Coast Main Line service patterns

Virgin Trains run at least six trains per hour — weekdays, off peak — in and out of London’s Euston station. This is noticeably busier than GNER in and out of Kings Cross, who operate three or four per hour, and busier than Midland Mainline, who operate four trains per hour in/out of St Pancras. Details below are as per February 2006.
Manchester Piccadilly services are half hourly. They consist of the faster services at 35 past the hour (taking just 2 hours, 11 minutes) which call just at Stoke-on-Trent and Stockport, and the slower departures at 5 past the hour which call at Watford Junction or Milton Keynes Central (alternating, every two hours ), then Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, and Stockport. The morning peak hour service from Manchester, and the late afternoon peak from Euston, is strikingly frequent with trains every ten or twenty minutes. The 0705 ex Piccadilly, with a stop at Stockport only, completes the journey in 2 hours 5 minutes. There is a daily ‘slow’ service at 0938 between Euston and Manchester via Northampton and Crewe, taking 3 hours 17 minutes for the complete journey.


West Midlands services are half hourly between Euston and Birmingham New Street, with trains continuing every hour to Wolverhampton. Trains leave Euston at 10 and 40 past the hour. The xx.10s call at Watford Junction, Coventry, Birmingham International and terminate at Birmingham New Street. The xx.40 departures call at Milton Keynes Central instead of Watford, then the same stops to Birmingham New Street and continuing to Wolverhampton, calling at Sandwell and Dudley. Journey time between Euston and Birmingham New Street is 1 hour 30 minutes.
Liverpool Lime Street services are hourly and leave Euston, generally, at 15 past the hour. They call at Watford Junction or Milton Keynes Central (alternating, two hourly at each), then at Nuneaton, Tamworth, Stafford, Crewe, and Runcorn. Journey time is two hours 30 minutes. There is an additional fast morning train from Lime Street to Euston at 0707. Calling only at Runcorn, this train completes the journey in just 2 hours 9 minutes. There is no equivalent late afternoon return, however.
Preston/Scotland services run hourly between Euston and Lancaster, with many trains now continuing to Carlisle and Glasgow Central and one per day continuing to Edinburgh Waverley. Trains leave Euston at 46 minutes past the hour calling at either Watford Junction or Milton Keynes Central (two hourly, alternating) and then at Rugby, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston and Lancaster. North of Lancaster, most trains call at Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith and Carlisle with a number calling at Motherwell.
Virgin Trains now run nine trains per day , each way, between Euston and Glasgow Central. The pattern is generally every two hours but there are now some hourly intervals and Virgin Trains intend to ‘fill in the gaps’ in time. The service compares favourably with GNER’s rival service from Kings Cross for both journey time and frequency. Typical journey times are just over five hours, but there are a couple of reduced stop express services - most notably the 1029 out of Euston which calls just at Preston and Carlisle and takes 4 hours 25 minutes. The 0949 out of Glasgow is the southbound equivalent.
Virgin Trains is ‘testing the water’ with a daily Euston to Edinburgh service. This does not compare at all favourably with GNER’s service from Kings Cross, which is far faster and much more frequent.
Comparisons with mainline continental services suggest that Virgin and other UK operators have a long way to go in terms of both value for money and speed. Taking a typical mainline route (London to Glasgow). The best that Virgin can achieve is 4.25 hours. By comparison, a similar mainline route (Paris to Valence) takes 2 hours. Oddly, this difference is repeated (in an inverse fashion) in fare prices. An open first class return for the Virgin route is £328 by contrast it is £160 for the French/SNCF route.
North Wales: The line from Crewe to Holyhead — via Chester, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction and Bangor — is not electrified, so services are mostly in the hands of Class 221 ''Super Voyager'' diesel-electric multiple units. One train a day between Euston and Holyhead is worked by a ''Pendolino'', which is pulled by a Class 57 diesel locomotive over the Crewe - Holyhead sector. There are five trains per day in each direction between Euston, Chester and North Wales - four serving Holyhead and one serving Llandudno.
Due to the continuing works (as оf 2006) in quadrupling the Trent Valley section of the WCML, all Pendolino services north of Stafford are being routed via Birmingham New Street at weekends. This has an adverse effect on journey times - the Euston-Glasgow Central run for instance being pushed way over the 5hrs 30min mark.
From 2009 following the completion of works on the West Coast Mainline new frequencies will be introduced on the line.
'London-Preston/Carlisle/Glasgow/Edinburgh'

★ 13 trains per day between Glasgow Central and London Euston each way. No more services to Edinburgh Waverley

★ The fastest train of the day will be the 1630 Euston-Glasgow which takes 4hr 10mins calling at Preston only

★ Hourly service between London Euston and Preston all day, with some additional peak services

★ The majority of services will run non stop between London Euston and Warrington Bank Quay, then continue to Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, Carlisle then Glasgow Central
'London-Birmingham/Wolverhampton'

★ Trains every 20 minutes between London Euston and Birmingham New Street with 1 train per hour continuing to Wolverhampton

★ All services to call at; Birmingham International, Coventry with trains calling at either; Rugby, Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction to give Birmingham New Street and hourly service to all
'London-Chester/Holyhead'

★ All services operated by Class 221 Voyagers

★ Hourly service to Chester calling at: Milton Keynes Central and Crewe only

★ Holyhead services will be generally formed of 2x Voyagers between London and Chester with the 1st set continuing to Holyhead
'London-Manchester'

★ A services between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly every 20 minutes

★ xx00 calling at; Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport

★ xx20 calling at; Milton Keynes Central, Stoke-on-Trent, Stockport

★ xx40 calling at; Crewe, Wilmslow, Stockport
'London-Liverpool'

★ A service between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street hourly throughout the day

★ The standard calling pattern will be; Stafford and Runcorn only
'Birmingham-Glasgow/Edinburgh'

★ All trains will be operated by Class 221 Voyagers

★ Services will operate hourly between Birmingham New Street and Carlisle calling at; Wolverhampton, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, then Oxenholme or Penrith and Carlisle

★ Services will then alternate and continue to either Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley giving a two hourly service to both from Birmingham
'Trent Valley stations'

★ Virgin Trains will call at; Nuneaton, Tamworth and Lichfield Trent Valley only during the morning and evening peaks
'Crewe'

★ London Euston to Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime Street will no longer call at Crewe. Two trains per hour will still operate from London Euston to Crewe from Manchester Piccadilly and Chester

★ Passengers for Scotland travelling from Crewe have to travel by Virgin Trains services from Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley. Passengers for Liverpool Lime Street should use London Midland desiro services

Cross Country service patterns

Virgin Cross-Country has easily the most extensive network of any franchise on the British railway system — stretching from as far north as Aberdeen to as far southeast as Brighton and as far southwest as Penzance. The hub of the network is Birmingham New Street. Apart from the Manchester – Glasgow/Edinburgh service and some early morning/late evening services at the extremities of the network, all services serve Birmingham. Services are operated using Class 220 and Class 221 Voyager DEMUs, which are based at Central Rivers depot near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. However, Voyager units have been encountering serious technical problems as of late 2005/early 2006 and as a result other traction has been 'hired in'. Midland Mainline HST diesel units have been used on the Leeds/Newcastle – Plymouth sector whilst Class 90 electric locomotives, with Mk 2 coaches and Driving Van Trailers have been used on Birmingham – Manchester services.

There are four principal corridors radiating from Birmingham New Street, each with a half hourly service pattern. These are south eastwards to Reading, south westwards to Bristol, north westwards to Manchester and north eastwards to Derby and Sheffield. There is also an hourly pattern over the Birmingham – Preston – Scotland sector via the West Coast Main Line. Apart from early or late in the day, most services do not start or terminate at Birmingham but operate as through services (e.g. Manchester – Brighton, Glasgow – Penzance). The southerly terminating points are Reading, Brighton, Southampton, Bournemouth, Penzance, Plymouth and Cardiff. The northerly terminating points are Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Manchester. The Manchester – Scotland service, via Carlisle, sees a two hourly pattern with four trains per day Manchester – Edinburgh and three per day Manchester – Glasgow. This is in the next few years to transfer to TransPennine Express. This will release the Voyager units for Holyhead workings. Glasgow will only be served by CrossCountry services via Edinburgh and the East Coast Main Line from 2007. Stations on the West Coast Mainline between Warrington Bank Quay and Lockerbie (inclusive) will lose all their Cross Country services, which will be replaced by a new service terminating at Birmingham New Street, operated by Virgin West Coast.

Performance

Virgin Trains has had a poor reputation for punctuality compared with some other transport operators . This perception seems to be a mixture of truth, passenger 'accounts' and media exaggeration. The company has now improved its punctuality and the figures published on Virgin Trains' website are consistent with this view. During the year ending December 31, 2002, only 73.6% of West Coast trains and 62.5% of Cross-Country trains arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time (source: SRA National Rail Trends). However Virgin has consistently improved its punctuality and for the year ending December 31, 2005, Cross Country 'Voyager' services are up to 80.0% and the West Coast 'Pendolino' services up to 79.9% against an average of 80.8% for long-distance operators.^[3] This has gradually stabilised and the latest figures released by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) of the year 2007 are 83.8% for the West Coast franchise and 84.9% for the CrossCountry franchise - based on PPM (Public Performance Measure) for the last quarter of the financial year 2006/7 ^[4]. The figures for the West Coast franchise are now approximately at the sector level for long distance operators, but fall 10% behind the best operator of this sector Midland Mainline.

Problems with punctuality had been widely attributed by Virgin to the ageing and increasingly unreliable rolling stock and the equally ageing and outdated infrastructure on which it ran, although other train operating companies managed to operate the same equipment such as High Speed Trains with considerably greater reliability, implying that Virgin’s maintenance regime was partly to blame.
The introduction of the Pendolino stock on the West Coast Main Line and more modern diesel-electric trains on the Cross Country route are now helping improve reliability and punctuality as Virgin and Alstom resolve any teething problems with the Virgin Trains fleet.
Despite this however, Virgin has retained some of its elderly Mark 3 coaching stock and associated locomotives to provide back-up for any further teething problems with the Pendolinos and Voyagers.

Grayrigg derailment

Main articles: Grayrigg derailment

On the evening of 23 February, 2007, a Virgin Trains service from London Euston to Glasgow Central derailed near Oxenholme in North West England. The train was the 17:15 service, headcode 1S83, from Euston and was a Class 390 Pendolino. Train crashes in Lake District The train was carrying about 180 people. Several carriages were left lying on the railway embankments. An 84-year-old woman, named as Margaret Masson, from Glasgow, died in the crash. Five seriously injured people were hospitalised suffering from back, neck and head injuries. One of those in a serious condition is the train driver, Iain Black, who has been hailed as a hero by Virgin boss Richard Branson. The accident was caused by a faulty set of points.^[5]

The past

On privatisation, Virgin West Coast inherited a mixture of Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaches, with electric locomotives of Classes 86, 87 and 90. Virgin Cross-Country also inherited several Class 43 High Speed Trains, and Mark 2 coaches which were hauled by Class 47 diesel locomotives and Class 86 locomotives on electrified routes.
Virgin formerly ran a service from Swindon to Birmingham via Stroud and Gloucester using Class 158 diesel multiple units, officially numbered VT0 on its timetables. This service was operated by Wales and West, the predecessor of Wessex Trains under contract from Virgin. These services were to be extended to London Paddington using HSTs refurbished to standards of the new Virgin interiors, but this plan was dropped in 2001 or 2002 and the route was transferred to Wessex Trains in conjunction with First Great Western.
A serious drive was made to improve reliability and punctuality after much press criticism in 2001, but by 2006, thanks to improved reliability of trains and completion of major infrastructure projects, performance is comparable with other intercity operators. Virgin have undertaken a number of project to increase punctuality, including radio controlled watches^[6]
The remedy to these problems has been a slow, painful and expensive one. Virgin, in 1997 placed the largest rolling stock order (£1bn) in British history with new Class 390 ''Pendolino'' tilting trains for the West Coast Main Line network. These state-of-the-art units are based on technology developed by state corporation British Rail for their prototype APT tilting train of the early 1980s; the technology was subsequently licensed to the Italian manufacturers. The Pendolino trains have a nominal top speed of 225 km/h (140 mph), but will be limited to 200 km/h (125 mph) on the West Coast Main Line; there have been proposals for 135mph running on certain sections of the WCML, namely the remodelled Trent Valley area but these are yet to be considered by Network Rail . The cross-country routes have been served by new diesel-electric four-carriage Class 220 ''Voyager'' and five-carriage Class 221 ''Super Voyager'' trains. The Super Voyager trains have tilting ability like the Pendolino and will be used for services operating on the West Coast Main Line.
This meant that by December 2004, Virgin Trains had replaced all of the rolling stock inherited from British Rail with brand-new trains. The new trains offer many features not available on the older stock but have also been criticised for cramming seats into the carriages at far higher densities, leading to sharply reduced leg-room and generally more cramped passenger conditions. The trains were intended to work at much higher frequencies than British Rail’s did, and so each train has fewer seats than the ones it replaced. With the failure of the infrastructure company to deliver track which can operate those higher frequencies, Virgin's trains now have too little capacity and are regularly overcrowded.
The West Coast Main Line itself has been the subject of a massive £10bn refurbishment programme to accept the new trains, one that has been the subject of massive controversy, since it is now running three years late, and has cost twice the original estimate. (see West Coast Main Line page for full details).
Given Richard Branson’s personal popularity with much of the British public and the high-profile success of some of his other business ventures such as the Virgin Atlantic airline, the relative failure of Virgin Trains may appear unusual (but might perhaps be considered alongside Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka, both brands launched in a blaze of publicity, but have now largely disappeared).
In May 2003, following the poor punctuality and extreme overcrowding brought on by their new 'Operation Princess' clockface timetable launched in September 2002, Virgin Trains introduced some new set-down only or pick-up only stops into its passenger timetable. What is unusual about these restricted stops is that they are in the middle of the train journey, rather than the common practice of instituting set-down only stops at the next-to-last station or pick-up only on the second station of a train’s run. For instance, some South-North trains are pick-up only at Oxford, despite Oxford being the sixth or seventh stop and previous stops not being pick-up only. The company has stated that these are enforceable by means of fines; for example, a passenger leaving the train at a pick-up only stop is deemed not to have a valid ticket, and could be charged accordingly, although exactly how this can be enforced once a passenger has left the train is unclear. The apparent intention of the restricted stops is to stop short-distance passengers from overcrowding the long-distance trains, although they might also put some long-distance travellers off using the trains.
Additionally, some destinations, including Blackpool, Poole, Portsmouth, London Paddington and Swansea, were removed from the Virgin Trains network altogether, and some services pass through important junction stations, such as Taunton, Exeter St Davids and Didcot Parkway without stopping. For the Winter 2005 timetable, Milton Keynes Central was now sparsely served by peak time West Coast services in order to deter commuters from using Virgin's services as an additional link to Euston.

The future

The existing Cross Country franchise will finish in November 2007 and Virgin will not be operating the new franchise. It was announced on 10 July,2007 by the Department for Transport (DfT) that Arriva will be operating the new network from 11 November 2007,^[7] which will include a number of former Central Citylink services following a reshuffle of franchises in the Midlands. Virgin immediately announced their disappointment and said they were seeking a meeting at the earliest opportunity to find out why they were not re-awarded the new tender.^[8] The loss of the Cross-Country franchise will see a realignment of Virgin Trains' rolling stock; all 34 of Virgin's Class 220 ''Voyager'' and 23 of 44 Class 221 ''Super Voyager'' DEMUs will remain on the Cross-Country routes with the new operator CrossCountry. The remaining 21 Class 221 units will be transferred to Virgin West Coast for use on the North Wales Coast Line.
Projected growth in passenger numbers on the West Coast routes has prompted discussions about increasing the length of Pendolino sets to 11 or (more likely) 10 vehicles. The likelihood of 10 car formations was foreseen in the original WCML strategy, so minimal infrastructure improvements would be required. A decision was expected from DfT by the end of 2006. This has been put in jeopardy recently as a result of an enquiry into the leasing of trains being carried out by the Competition Commission.^[9] It is likely that plans will delay the improvements until 2011/2012.
Following the completion of the Trent Valley Line quadrupling and Rugby junction upgrades to allow 125mph running (completed by 2008), West Coast journey times are expected to fall further; Glasgow-Euston 4hr 15mins, Euston-Birmingham 1hr 20mins. Virgin claim that 135mph running may be possible in places, although Network Rail remain sceptical - stating that significant signalling upgrades would be required.
Virgin have consistently expressed an interest in the InterCity East Coast franchise since privatisation. However, it failed in its bid in 2005 to gain control of the route from incumbent GNER. On 15 December 2006, the DfT announced its wishes for GNER to 'surrender' the East Coast franchise, following financial and operational problems at its parent company, Sea Containers.^[10] This caused a re-start of the bidding process in which the DfT stated that GNER was welcome to re-bid for the franchise, an opportunity which they did not take up. However in a curious twist the GNER board later announced they would join the bid submitted Virgin and Stagecoach Group which has been shortlisted under the name "Intercity Railways".^[11] On Tuesday 14 August 2007, Department for Transport announced that National Express East Coast (NXEC Trains Ltd) had won the franchise ^[12].
An open-access operator, Wrexham & Shropshire, has submitted a plan to operate services between London and North Wales, which would involve utilising a stretch of the WCML. Virgin Trains objected to this proposal, which would have seen Wrexham & Shropshire having trains call at Wolverhampton. Due to the ''moderation of competition'' protection that is part of Virgin's West Coast franchise agreement, Wrexham & Shropshire have had to submit a new proposal that will involve only limited use of Wolverhampton, with Tame Bridge Parkway railway station used as its main Midlands stop. Wrexham & Shropshire are due to begin their operations in spring 2008.

Virgin Trains routes

Current routes

Code		Route	Rollingstock
VT1		South West of England through Birmingham to the North West and Scotland	Voyager
VT2		South coast through Birmingham to the North of England and Scotland	Voyager
VT3		South West of England and South Wales through Birmingham to the North East of England and Scotland	Voyager
VT4		London Euston along the North Wales coast	Voyager/Pendolino
VT5		London Euston to Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton	Pendolino
VT6		London Euston to the North West of England/Preston into Glasgow	Pendolino
VT7		London Euston to Manchester Piccadily via Stoke-on-Trent or Crewe	Pendolino
VT8		London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street	Pendolino

Main Routes

★ 1. Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle

★ 2. Bournemouth to Manchester

★ 3. Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle

★ 4. Totnes to Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle

★ 5. Totnes to Edinburgh via Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle
ROUTE ONE Bournemouth to Edinburgh via Leeds and Newcastle
1. Bournemouth- starts the journey from here
2. Brockenhurst- Change here for the New Forest
3. Southampton Central- change here for Westquay shopping centre and services to the IOW
4. Southampton Airport Parkway- change here for planes to the North of the UK, Ireland and Europe
5. Winchester- Change here for Marwell Zoo
6. Basingstoke- change here for Basingstoke Shopping Centre
7. Reading, Berkshire- Change here for the famous V Festival
8. Oxford- change here for Oxford University
9. Banbury
10. Coventry
11. Birmingham- Change here for CITV studios and Cadbury world
12. Birmingham New Street- change here for alternate trains to the North, South and Wales
13. Derby
14. Sheffield
15. Wakefield
16. Leeds- Change here for Bradford, Hull, Middlesburgh Manchester, Liverpool and the set of Emmerdale which is just minutes away by foot from the station as well as the alternative V festival from that of Reading, Berkshire
17. York
18. Darlington
19. Durham- change here for Durham University
20. Newcastle- change here for Newcastle University, Newcastle College and Tyne Bridge
21. Alnmouth
22. Berwick upon Tweed/English/Scottish Borders
23. Dunbar
24. Edinburgh Waverley- End of service. Change here for services to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness
ROUTE TWO Bournemouth to Manchester
1. Bournemouth
2. Brockenhurst
3. Southampton Central-
4. Southampton Airport Parkway-
5. Winchester-
6. Basingstoke-
7. Reading-
8. Oxford-
9. Banbury
10. Coventry
11. Birmingham-
12. Birmingham New Street- change here for alternate trains to the North, South and Wales
13. Wolverhampton
14. Crewe
15. Warrington Bank Quay
16. Earlestown
17. Newton-le-Willows
18. Manchester Oxford Road
19. Manchester Piccadilly- change here for Granada Studios

Past routes

Code		Route	Rollingstock
VT0		Swindon to Birmingham via Stroud and Gloucester	Class 158 Diesel Multiple Units (158747-158751)
VT2		(Part Route) Liverpool, London Paddington, Portsmouth Harbour and Blackpool North Branches	Voyager

Rolling Stock

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 57/3		Diesel locomotive	95	120	16	North Wales Coast Line Diversion Routes (Crewe - Preston via Manchester / Bolton) Rescue Trains	1970's
Class 220 ''Voyager''		Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit	125	200	34	Cross Country Route	2001
Class 221 ''Super Voyager''		Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit	125	200	44	Cross Country Route North Wales Coast Line	2001
Class 390 ''Pendolino''		Electric Multiple Unit	125	200	53	West Coast Main Line North Wales Coast Line	2001 - 2004

Past fleet

' Class '	' Image '	' Type '	' Built '	' Withdrawn '	' Notes '
Class 43 ''High Speed Train''		diesel locomotive	1976 - 1982	2002 - 2004
Class 47		diesel locomotive	1962 - 1968	2001 - 2004	Some locos converted into Class 57
Class 86		electric locomotive	1965 - 1966	2001 - 2004
Class 87		electric locomotive	1973 - 1975	2001 - 2004	Stored at MOD Long Marston
Class 90		electric locomotive	1987 - 1990	2001 - 2004	Now used by 'one', small number of vehicles retained for backup purposes.
Class 158 ''Express Sprinter''		diesel multiple unit	1989 - 1992	2001 - 2002	now operated by First Great Western
Mark 2 Coach		Passenger Rolling stock	1964 - 1975	2001 - 2004	In Storage - some vehicles exported to New Zealand
Mark 3 Coach		Passenger Rolling stock	1975 - 1988	2001 - 2004	Now used by 'one', small number of vehicles retained for backup purposes.

Bio-Diesel train

On June 7th 2007, Sir Richard Branson and Gordon Brown launched Europe's first bio-diesel train for a scheduled 11:27 London Euston - Llandudno service.^[13]

References

1. Passenger Rail Franchises - Virgin Cross Country
2. Site Terms & Conditions
3. National Rail Trends 2005-2006 Quarter Three
4. National Rail Trends 2006-2007 Quarter Four
5. Rail crash report blames points
6. Virgin Trains goes Atomic
7. Virgin loses Cross Country rail
8. Virgin Rail Group disappointed at New Cross Country franchise decision
9. Watchdog to probe rolling stock Michael Harrison
10. GNER to surrender top train route
11. Four in East Coast rail shortlist
12. National Express wins rail route
13. First UK biodiesel train launched

See also

★ Class 220 ''Voyager''

★ Class 221 ''Super Voyager''

★ Class 390 ''Pendolino''

★ Megatrain

★ National Rail

★ North Wales Coast Line

★ West Coast Main Line

★ Virgin Cross-Country

★ Virgin West Coast

External links

★ Virgin Trains web site

★ Virgin Trains Pendolino Seat Plans from V-Flyer, customer created site.

★ Virgin Trains Voyager Seat Plans from V-Flyer, customer created site.

★ In-depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding the recent Pendolino derailing in Cumbria

★ Report and technical analysis on the 23/02/2007 Pendelino Accident in Cumbria Updated from the scene at the iVirtua Community

★ BBC News on Cross Country loss




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