28,000 more seats promised as Virgin Trains extends contract
Birmingham-headquartered Virgin Trains has secured a contract extension to operate services on the West Coast Main Line. Rail minister Theresa Villiers made the announcement as she promised 28,000 extra seats and more carriages for passengers.
The move means Virgin Trains will now run services on the line until December 2012. The line stretches from London to Glasgow serving Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and North Wales.
The extension comes ahead of a new franchise which will run from December 2012 to March 2026 with an option for the government to extend up to 20 months.
The government said the deal will lead to three new 600-seat Pendolino trains on the line, which will be added to a new Pendolino which entered service in July this year.
Villiers also announced that 31 existing Pendolinos will be lengthened from nine to 11 carriages, increasing the number of standard class seats on each train by almost 50 per cent, from 320 to 470.
A total of 106 new carriages are set to being introduced on the route making 28,000 extra seats available each day, an increase of 25 per cent, the government said.
Villiers said: "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."
