More seats boost as Virgin extends West Coast franchise

VIRGIN Trains has extended its franchise agreement to operate the West Coast Main Line.

Announcing the deal, the Department for Transport said passengers travelling on the service between London and Glasgow and which serves Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Cumbria, would benefit from extra carriages and more seats from from April next year.

The deal with Virgin lasts  until the end of 2012 and over the course of the extension three new 600-seat Pendolino trains will be added to the line.  This is in addition to the new Pendolino which entered service in July.

Also, 31 existing Pendolinos will be lengthened from 9 to 11 carriages, increasing the number of standard class seats on each train by almost 50%, from 320 to 470.
In all, 106 new carriages are being introduced on the route making 28,000 extra seats available each day, an increase of 25%.

Rail minister Theresa Villiers said: “The West Coast Main Line is one of our busiest and most important rail arteries. Keeping the existing operator in place while these new trains and carriages are introduced should help ensure they are introduced smoothly onto the network so passengers reap the benefits as soon as possible.

“When this extension expires in December 2012, the Government will have completed a competition for a new operator to run services on the line under a new longer style of franchise which gives the operator more incentive to invest and more freedom to innovate and deliver for passengers.

“These extra seats are great news for passengers, but in the longer term, even with these improvements, the route is expected to be full by 2024. This is why we are considering proposals for a high speed rail line between London, the West Midlands, Manchester, Leeds and potentially beyond.”

The government announced its intention to seek an extension to Virgin Trains’ existing contract this May.

At the same time the Department for Transport  published details of how the new West Coast franchise that will run from December 2012 will look, in the form of a draft Invitation To Tender.

The new franchise will run from December 2012 to March 2026 with an option for the Department to extend up to 20 months.

The government is currently considering responses to its consultation on proposals for a new multi-billion pound high speed rail network and will announce its decision by the end of the year.