Press release -
The UK’s First High Speed Book Signings with Virgin Trains
This autumn, Virgin Trains is launching the UK’s first ever on board ‘high speed’ book signings on its West Coast route. A host of well-known authors have been confirmed, including renowned Scandi-crime writer, Jo Nesbo; highly acclaimed British writer Joanna Trollope; who is launching The Austen Project with a reworking of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility andrenowned comedian and author, Ruby Wax.
All the authors involved have either recently launched or will soon be launching their new books and will offer Virgin Trains’ passengers an exclusive opportunity to own a signed copy. The book signings will take place in Coach G (the First Class carriage closest to Standard Class). Travellers will be informed over the on-board announcement system and invited to buy a book before meeting the author for a personalised copy.
Passengers can keep up to date with details of when their favourite author is on board by visiting the Virgin Trains Facebook page.
Virgin Trains reaches speeds of up to 125mph between 45 west coast stations from London Euston to Glasgow including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool and the authors will be travelling on various routes over the autumn months.
If you are travelling for business, on a family day out, or you simply want to be a part of this one off experience then visit the Virgin Trains Facebook page from the 1st September to check when your favourite author is on board and book your train tickets at www.VirginTrains.com.
Commenting on the launch of the ‘High Speed Book Signings’, Jim Rowe, Virgin Trains Senior Communications Manager says “Authors routinely travel the country to book signing sessions so we thought why not use the time travelling to sign some more. It is a fact: nowhere else will our authors sign books faster than on our Virgin high speed trains”.
Topics
- Literature
Regions
- England
Visit our Media Room website for the latest news, press releases and the company factsheet. To receive our content live, as and when we publish it, you can sign up to follow us. Go to Follow Virgin Trains and click on ‘Create account’.
Virgin Trains has revolutionised rail travel by creating a high speed, high frequency service that has cut journey times and made rail journeys more comfortable. It has operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997, serving key UK cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Glasgow.
Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group (VRG), which is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach. The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded VRG a franchise contract, which started on 9 December 2012 and will run for up to 23 months. The DfT announced on 26 March 2013 a programme for letting future franchises, with the long-term West Coast franchise expected to start in April 2017.
Virgin Trains has been recognised in numerous awards. In September 2012 Business Traveller magazine readers voted the company the Best UK Domestic Rail Operator for the sixth year running. In 2011 the company was named Best Rail Operator in the Group Leisure Awards (which it also won in 2009 and 2010). In 2011 Virgin Trains won the British Quality Foundation's Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction.
Customers consistently rate the company the top long-distance rail franchise operator, as measured by the National Passenger Survey (NPS) run by industry watchdog Passenger Focus. In the most recent NPS (Spring 2013) overall satisfaction was 92%, equalling our best ever score from the previous survey (Autumn 2012).
Virgin Trains first achieved Investors In People accreditation in 2007 and this was renewed in 2010; the IIP Gold award was achieved in 2011. In May 2013 Virgin Trains renewed it accreditation against the criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management's (EFQM) Excellence Model, which it originally achieved in May 2011 The company’s Learning and Development team won a National Training Awards 2011 West Midlands award for its Coaching Culture programme.
For more information about Virgin Trains visit the Virgin Trains' website or the Media Room website.