Full steam ahead as Virgin Trains invests £21m in East Coast mainline

“THE bar has been raised by customers,” said Virgin Trains managing director David Horne, as the company announced a £21m investment in train refurbishment on the East Coast mainline today.

45 trains on the route will see a total of 401 carriages overhauled, with more than 24,000 seats replaced, bringing total investment in train improvement to £40m since it launched.

Virgin took over the route in March this year, creating the Virgin Trains East Coast vehicle, which is 10% owned by Richard Branson and 90% owned by Stagecoach.

Virgin outbid rivals for the eight-year franchise be agreeing to pay £3.3bn in premiums to the Government.

The joint venture’s investment is part of plans to invest £140m in the coming eight years.

David Horne, managing director of Virgin Trains on the east coast route, said: “Since Virgin started running this railway, the bar has been raised by customers who rightly demand a high quality customer experience, something which they would expect from a Virgin business, as well as getting great value for money.

“And that’s exactly what we’ve been working hard to deliver, with this multi million investment in our trains not only one of the biggest investments of its kind ever seen on the east coast route, but also three years ahead of the introduction of new Super Express Trains as part of the Government’s InterCity Express programme.”

Work on the trains will be carried out at the company’s Bounds Green depot in London and its Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh.

There, it will also fit 35 new engines to its diesel High Speed Train fleet as part of a £16 million contract with engine manufacturer MTU.

The first fully refurbished train will be running from 14 December when Virgin launches its new service between Sunderland and London.

This is ahead of plans to invest in a fleet of 65 trains from 2018.

 

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