[guide.chat] Virgin Trains new changes

From: "Carol O'Connor" <missbossyboots33@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "guide chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:52:17 +0100

Richard Branson's Virgin Trains has lost the franchise to run trains on the 
West Coast mainline to First Group.
Announcing the new franchise winner, Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said the 
new franchise would deliver "big improvements for passengers, with more seats 
and plans for more services". But the RMT transport union warned of "massive 
cuts to jobs and passenger services and huge increases in fares".
Virgin has operated the West Coast line for 15 years, introducing tilting 
high-speed Pendolino trains to the route and increasing passenger levels from 
around 13 million a year in 1997 to around 31 million a year now.
Virgin Rail is 49% owned by another giant transport company Stagecoach which 
said today that it was disappointed that its bid with Virgin to continue 
running the franchise had been unsuccessful.
It said it understood that Virgin was the Department for Transport's (DfT) 
second-choice bidder and that that the reason it failed to win the new 
franchise was "because another bidder contracted to pay significantly higher 
premiums to the DfT".
FirstGroup chief executive Tim O'Toole said the company was delighted to win 
the franchise.
He went on "We will be making significant improvements including reduced 
journey times and introducing new direct services."
The deal will see the introduction, from December 2016, of 11 new six-car 
electric trains which will enable more seats to be provided across the 
franchise, including greater capacity on the Birmingham to Scotland route.
New services are planned from Blackpool, Telford, Shrewsbury and Bolton to 
London. FirstGroup has also committed to cut the cost of West Coast standard 
anytime fares by an average of 15% within the first two years.
The franchise stretches from London to Glasgow, connecting many of the UK's 
major cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, 
Edinburgh, Lancaster and Chester.
The DfT said the franchise deal was worth £5.5 billion over the lifetime of the 
contract. The new franchise will begin on December 9 and will run for 13 years 
and four months.
Ms Villiers said: "This new franchise will deliver big improvements for 
passengers, with more seats and plans for more services. Targets to meet on 
passenger satisfaction will be introduced for the first time in an InterCity 
rail franchise and passengers will also benefit from smart ticketing and from 
investment in stations.
"The West Coast is the first of the new longer franchises to be let by the 
Coalition which has helped us secure real benefits for passengers by 
encouraging First West Coast Limited (as the company will be named) to invest 
in the future of the service."
[guide.chat] Virgin Trains new changes

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