Press release -
Back to the future as history made with east coast rail icons
An historic 1977 line-up of trains at York Station has been re-created to mark the evolution of express rail travel on the East Coast main line ahead of the new Virgin Azuma (Class 800) coming into service in 2018. The trains in the new photograph were brought together for a once in a lifetime event, organised by Virgin Trains, National Railway Museum, Network Rail, Welcome to Yorkshire and Hitachi to celebrate the past, present and future of passenger rail travel. The trains featured in the new photograph are iconic Flying Scotsman alongside two trains from Virgin Trains’ current revitalised fleet - an HST Intercity 125 (Class 43), an Intercity 225 (Class 91), as well as the new Virgin Azuma, and the Deltic D9002.
Topics
- Art, Culture, Entertainment
Categories
- business news
- trains
- regional news
- routes & stations
- fun stuff
- east coast
About Virgin Trains:
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.
The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. We have already invested £21m to completely revamp our existing fleet and customers can now benefit from 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London. 2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.
The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
Visit the Virgin Trains Media Room - virgintrains.co.uk/about/media-room - for the latest news, images and videos. Subscribe here for regular news from Virgin Trains.
Press Office: 0845 000 3333.
