Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast

HST Powercar 43312 at Sunderland
Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity East Coast 1 March 2015 – 31 March 2023
Main route(s)	London - Aberdeen London - Edinburgh London - Newcastle London - York London - Leeds London - Newark
Other route(s)	London - Inverness London - Glasgow London - Skipton London - Bradford London - Harrogate London - Hull London - Lincoln
Fleet size	31 InterCity 225 sets 14 InterCity 125 sets 2 British Rail Class 390 Pendolino
Stations called at	53
Stations operated	12
Parent company	Stagecoach (90%) Virgin (10%)
Reporting mark	GR
Other
Website	www.virgintrainseastcoast.com
Route map

Virgin Trains East Coast (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operates the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. It commenced operations on 1 March 2015, taking over from East Coast. Virgin Trains East Coast is a joint venture between Stagecoach (90%), and Virgin (10%).

History

In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new InterCity East Coast franchise.

In November 2014, the eight-year franchise was awarded to the Stagecoach/Virgin joint venture company Inter City Railways Limited, and commenced operating on 1 March 2015 trading as Virgin Trains East Coast.

Services

Virgin Trains East Coast took over all of the services operated by East Coast. It categorises its weekday services from London King's Cross into four routes:

	Route	Off-peak frequency	Calling at (off-peak)	Peak-time extensions
A	London King's Cross - Leeds (and West Yorkshire)	2tph	xx:05 service calling at Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds xx:35 service calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds	1tpd to Skipton 1tpd to Bradford Forster Square 1tpd to Harrogate
B	London King's Cross - Edinburgh (fast)	1tph	York, Darlington, Newcastle Central, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edinburgh Waverley	1tpd to Inverness 1tpd to Stirling 4tpd to Aberdeen (3 from London King's Cross, 1 from Leeds)
C	London King's Cross - Newcastle Central and Edinburgh	1tph to Newcastle; 1tp2h extended to Edinburgh	Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Northallerton (1tp2h), Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Alnmouth, Edinburgh Waverley (Northallerton is served by trains to and from Newcastle only)	1tpd to Glasgow Central 1tpd to Sunderland
D	London King's Cross - Newark / York	1tph to Newark, 1tp2h extended to York	Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Retford, Doncaster, York	1tpd to Lincoln 1tpd to Hull

Virgin Trains East Coast announced the introduction of once per day services to Stirling and Sunderland via Newcastle. These commenced on 14 December 2015. It is proposing to extended for services from Newcastle to Edinburgh in May 2016 and extend services that terminate at Newark and York to Lincoln and Harrogate respectively. In May 2019, it is proposed that a half-hourly service to Edinburgh be introduced with a fleet of six to eight 7-car InterCity 225 sets operating limited stops services. In May 2020, it is proposed to extend services to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough.

Rolling stock

Virgin Trains East Coast inherited a fleet of InterCity 125 and InterCity 225s from East Coast. Most driving vehicles received a Virgin logo within the first three days of the franchise, and all train sets will receive a full Virgin Trains East Coast livery by November 2015. Attention will then turn to the interiors with toilets to be refreshed toilets and seat covers and carpets replaced., with the first refurbished set entering service on 14 December 2015. In July 2015, an additional InterCity 125 set was transferred from East Midlands Trains.

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number
				mph	km/h
InterCity 125	Class 43		Diesel locomotive	125	200	32
	Mark 3 carriage		Passenger carriage	125	200	117
InterCity 225	Class 91		Electric locomotive	140	225	31
	Mark 4 carriage		Passenger carriage	140	225	302
			Driving Van Trailer	140	225	31

All of the current fleet are scheduled to be replaced by Class 800/Class 801 high-speed trains by December 2018. These will operate in 9-carriage and 5-carriage sets.

If VTEC's application to operate extra limited stops services to Edinburgh is successful, it is proposing to operate these with a fleet of six to eight 7-carriage InterCity 225 sets.

Loyalty scheme

Virgin Trains East Coast has four main depots:

• Bounds Green in London - Shared with Great Northern
• Neville Hill in Leeds,
• Heaton in Newcastle Upon Tyne - Managed by Northern Rail
• Craigentinny in Edinburgh - Repaints and heavy duty maintenance are done at Craigentinny.

Loyalty scheme

One of the initial announcements upon winning the franchise was that the popular East Coast Rewards loyalty scheme would be closed down and replaced with a choice of Nectar or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. Both schemes will give two points per pound spent on Virgin Trains East Coast services only, unlike East Coast Rewards points will not be earned on travel on other rail services. At the time of closure East Coast Rewards had over 670,000 members. For a limited period members were able to use up their East Coast Rewards points on the regular catalogue of rewards or convert their points to Nectar or Flying Club. The new scheme offers a substantially worse redemption rate than the old one did up to January 2015; a purchase of £300 of first class tickets under the old system would have given a complimentary first class single ticket, but under the new system merely gives a £3 travel credit for Virgin Trains East Coast fares, so long as bought from their website.

External links

• Media related to Virgin Trains East Coast at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website