Virgin Trains
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Franchise(s) | Cross-Country 5th January 1997 – 10th November 2007 (originally 2012) InterCity West Coast 9th March 1997 – 31st March 2012 |
| Main route(s) | London - Scotland, London - West Midlands, London - North West |
| Other route(s) | London-North Wales |
| Fleet size | 53 Pendolino sets 21 Super Voyager sets |
| Stations operated | 17 |
| Parent company | Virgin Group / Stagecoach Group |
| Reporting mark | VT |
| Other | |
| Website | www.virgintrains.co.uk |
Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom, which currently provides services from London Euston to the West Midlands, the North West and Scotland, on the West Coast Main Line. Prior to 11 November 2007, the company also provided services linking the south and south-west of England with the north of England and Scotland, via Birmingham. Although it is branded as part of the Virgin Group, their share in the company is only 51%, with the remaining 49% held by Stagecoach Group.
Virgin Trains was formed to take advantage of the privatisation of British Rail in the mid 1990s, and was initially successful in winning two: InterCity West Coast and InterCity Cross Country[1]. The two franchises, although separate companies (in common ownership)[2] both legally and operationally, were marketed as a single brand.
Current services
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 NXEC in and out of Kings Cross, who operate four per hour, and busier than East Midlands Trains, who operate four or five trains per hour in/out of St Pancras. Details below are as per February 2006.
2007
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 (taking 2 hours 19 minutes) 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 17 past the hour. They call at Watford Junction or Milton Keynes Central (alternating, two hourly at each), then at Nuneaton, 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 NXEC’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 NXEC’s service from Kings Cross, which is far faster and much more frequent.
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. 2 trains a day between Euston and Holyhead are worked by Pendolinos, which are 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.
Since December 2007 Virgin Trains have continued to operate the Birmingham - Scotland via Preston services as a self-contained unit with Super Voyagers. These used to be part of Virgin Cross Country but remained with the Virgin West Coast services after the major re-franchising of November 2007.
Due to the continuing works in widening the Trent Valley section of the WCML to four tracks, all Pendolino services north of Stafford are being routed via the West Midlands 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.
Some of these diverted trains go through and call at Birmingham New Street. A few run via Aston railway station and Perry Barr instead without stopping and skip central Birmingham. [3]
2008
From December 2008, as a result of the WCML route modernisation works, Virgin will be introducing a completely new timetable with increased frequencies and speeds on many routes. The draft Monday - Friday timetable's general service pattern is shown below. Other calls/timings will occurs, mainly during peak times. There will also be "non/limited stop" trains running to justify the claimed fastest journey times (on adverts for example). Most trains are to be run by Penalinos with exceptions shown below:
Euston-West Midlands There will be 3 trains per hour - an XX:03 calling at Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street - an XX:23 calling at Watford Junction, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley and Wolverhampton and an XX:43 calling at Milton Keynes Central, Coventry, Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street. A handful of Birmingham terminators will be operated by Super Voyagers (to be used for the few West Midlands-North Wales trains.
Euston-Manchester 3 trains per hour - an XX:00 calling at Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly - an XX:20 calling at Milton Keynes, Stoke, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly and an XX:40 calling at Crewe, Wilmslow, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.
Euston-Liverpool 1 train per hour - XX:07 calling at Stafford, Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street.
Euston-Preston/Glasgow 1 train per hour - XX:30 calling at Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston and Lancaster with most continuing to Oxenholme Lake District/Penrith(alternating), Carlisle and Glasgow Central. Some will also call at Motherwell. A handful of Lancaster terminators will be operated by Super Voyagers (the other half of a single unit split at Crewe, with the other half running towards Chester.
Birmingham-Scotland 1 train per hour XX:20 from Birmingham New Street running alternatively to Glasgow/Edinburgh and roughly similar to the current services provided now. This service will be provided with Super Voyagers only (in single formation).
Euston/West Midlands-Chester/North Wales 1 train per hour XX:10 calling at Milton Keynes, Crewe and Chester with a handful continuing to Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead. This service will be provided with Super Voyagers only (they will be in double formation until Crewe/Chester and single formation after that, with one unit terminating at Chester/going to Lancaster, and the other continuing to North Wales/Chester).
However Nuneaton, Tamworth and Lichfield will have most of their service provided by a new London Midland semi-fast Desiro service from London to Crewe, as Virgin will stop very few services at these stations (mainly peak hour trains, not suitable for leisure travellers).
Source's for the proposed new timetable: Department for Tarmac and Virgin Trains
Cross Country
Prior to 11 November 2007, Virgin Trains ran the Cross Country franchise, which operated long-distance services from the south and south-west of England, via Birmingham and Midlands to the north of England and Scotland. These services have now been transferred to a new franchise, CrossCountry, which was awarded to the Arriva Group, along with some former Central Trains services. However, the former Virgin Cross Country services between Manchester and Scotland will eventually be transferred to First TransPennine Express. CrossCountry services between Birmingham and Glasgow have been transferred to Virgin West Coast.
Performance
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Virgin Trains has had a poor reputation for punctuality compared with some other transport operators [citation needed]. This perception seems to be a mixture of truth, passenger 'accounts' and media exaggeration[citation needed]. 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.[4] 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 [5]. 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. [citation needed]
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
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.[6] 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.[7]
The past
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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.
A drive was made to improve reliability and punctuality after much press criticism in 2001, but by 2006, due to improved reliability of trains and completion of major infrastructure projects, performance was comparable with other intercity operators.[citation needed] Virgin have undertaken a number of project to increase punctuality, including radio controlled watches[8]
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.
By December 2004 Virgin Trains had replaced all of the rolling stock inherited from British Rail. Although the new trains offer many features not available on the older stock they also operate at higher densities, with some seats having reduced leg-room. The cramped conditions are attributable to the inward leaning walls of the carriages that facilitate tilting. The trains were intended to work at much higher frequencies than under British Rail, and so each train has fewer seats than the ones it replaced. Shortcomings of the West Coast Mainline modernisation project meant that the higher frequencies have not yet been achieved and during peak periods there is sometimes overcrowding.[citation needed]
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.
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
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 10 mins (fastest) or 1hr 20mins (off-peak). 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.
On June 7, 2007, Richard Branson and Gordon Brown launched Europe's first bio-diesel train for a scheduled 11:27 London Euston - Llandudno service.[13]
Virgin Trains routes
Current routes
| Code | Route | Rollingstock | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | London Euston to Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton | Pendolino | |
| B | London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly via Stoke-on-Trent or Crewe | Pendolino | |
| C | London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street | Pendolino | |
| D | London Euston to North Wales | Super Voyager/Pendolino | |
| E | London Euston to the North West of England/Preston into Glasgow | Pendolino | |
| F | Birmingham New Street to Glasgow Central/Edinburgh | Super Voyager | |
Rolling Stock
Current fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||||
| Class 57/3 | File:57307 Lady Penelope dragging 87019 through Water Orton.jpg | Diesel locomotive | 95 | 120 | 16 | North Wales Coast Line Thunderbird Locomotive |
2002 - 2004 |
| Class 221 Super Voyager | 
|
Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit | 125 | 200 | 16 | West Coast Main Line North Wales Coast Line |
2001 - 2002 |
| 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 | File:Dawlish Virgin HST.jpg | diesel locomotive | 1976 - 1982 | 2004 | |
| Class 47 | 
|
diesel locomotive | 1962 - 1968 | 2003 | 16 locos converted into Class 57 |
| Class 86 | 
|
electric locomotive | 1965 - 1966 | 2003 | |
| Class 87 | 
|
electric locomotive | 1973 - 1975 | 2006 | Moved to Bulgaria |
| Class 90 | 
|
electric locomotive | 1987 - 1990 | 2004 | Now used by 'one', small number of vehicles retained for backup purposes. |
| Class 158 Express Sprinter | 
|
diesel multiple unit | 1989 - 1992 | 2001 | now operated by First Great Western |
| Class 220 Voyager | 
|
Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit | 2001 | 2007 | now operated by CrossCountry |
| Mark 2 Coach | 
|
Passenger Rolling stock | 1964 - 1975 | 2003 | In Storage - some vehicles exported to New Zealand |
| Mark 3 Coach | 
|
Passenger Rolling stock | 1975 - 1988 | 2006 | Now used by 'one', small number of vehicles retained for backup purposes. |
|
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Driving Van Trailer | 1988 | 2006 | Now used by 'one', small number of vehicles retained for backup purposes. |
References
- ^ "Passenger Rail Franchises - Virgin Cross Country". Association of Train Operating Companies.
- ^ "Site Terms & Conditions". Virgin Trains.
- ^ London to Glasgow Virgin Trains Timetable
- ^ "National Rail Trends 2005-2006 Quarter Three" (PDF). Office of Rail Regulation.
- ^ "National Rail Trends 2006-2007 Quarter Four" (PDF). Office of Rail Regulation.
- ^ "Train crashes in Lake District". BBC News Online. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
- ^ "Rail crash report blames points". BBC News Online. 2007-02-26.
- ^ "Virgin Trains goes Atomic". Virgin Trains. 2006-02-28.
- ^ Harrison, Michael (2007-04-27). "Watchdog to probe rolling stock". The Independent.
- ^ "GNER to surrender top train route". BBC News Online. 2006-12-16.
- ^ "Four in East Coast rail shortlist". BBC News Online. 2007-02-20.
- ^ "National Express wins rail route". BBC News Online. 2007-08-14.
{{cite news}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ "First UK biodiesel train launched". BBC News Online. 2007-06-07.
See also
External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virgin West Coast. |
- 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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