Press release -
All aboard the Virgin Trains Chat Carriage
- Virgin Trains introduces ‘chat carriages’ on its Pendolino trains
- Customers encouraged to strike up conversations with fellow travellers
- All part of the BBC Crossing Divides On the Move day
Virgin Trains customers were today (Friday 14 June 2019) invited to strike up a conversation with a fellow traveller in its new ‘Chat Carriage’.
Coach C on a number of Virgin Trains Pendolino services has been converted into the ‘Chat Carriage’ to support the BBC’s Crossing Divides On the Move Day, an initiative designed to get people to better engage with each other, especially when travelling on public transport.
To help facilitate those conversations customers buying a hot drink on a select number of Virgin Trains services were given a second free of charge and encouraged to share it with a someone sitting close by as a means of sparking up a conversation, be it about the weather, their destination or where they have travelled from or what they are up to at the weekend.
“All too often we tend to disappear into our own bubble when travelling by public transport,” explains Jo Buckley, Community Manager at Virgin Trains. “We think there’s still a place for a smile and a chat. Research shows it can have a really positive impact on wellbeing and can brighten someone’s day.”
“Striking up a conversation with a stranger shouldn’t be so daunting. Through our charity partnership with Rethink Mental Illness and our work with the Samaritans we know how important talking is, so we were delighted to support Crossing Divides On the Move day.”
The BBC’s Emily Kasriel added: “The day provides an opportunity for those who want to take part, to reach out to fellow passengers. We are delighted to be working with companies like Virgin Trains who are encouraging their passengers to have conversations.”
By coming into contact with others, we may begin to understand other people’s worlds and help create a greater sense of belonging. Those who think there is nothing worse than talking to strangers and relish their ‘me time’ on their journey will be relieved to hear that any activity is entirely voluntary.”
If successful, Virgin Trains will explore rolling out a Chat Carriage as a permanent fixture onboard all of it services in the near future.
Ends
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About Virgin Trains
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the West Coast inter-city route under the Virgin Trains brand, revolutionising travel on one of the UK’s key rail arteries.
The network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester 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 ahead of other long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
Virgin Trains has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme, introducing the industry-leading onboard entertainment streaming service, BEAM, and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
Virgin Trains operated the East Coast route between March 1, 2015 and June 24, 2018. In that time, we invested £75m to create a more personalised travel experience, including over £40m in the existing fleet. Customers have benefitted from 48 additional services between Edinburgh and London every week, and an extra 22 Saturday services between Leeds and London – a total of 1.74 million additional seats since May 2015.
Working together, the partnership railway of the public and private sectors has published a long-term plan, called In Partnership for Britain’s Prosperity, to change and improve Britain’s railway. The plan will secure almost £85bn of additional economic benefits to the country whilst enabling further investment and improvement, and contains four commitments which will see rail companies: strengthen our economic contribution to the country; improve customers’ satisfaction; boost the communities we serve; and, create more and better jobs in rail. For more information go to Britain Runs on Rail.
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