Lucky Christmas travellers to arrive in style aboard Virgin Trains’ Traindeer

Commuters are hoping to travel home for Christmas in style aboard Virgin Trains’ Traindeer amid what is set to be the busiest day of the year for UK train travel. Virgin Trains has revealed that over 100 thousand journeys will be made on the network this Friday, as people make their way to loved ones for the holidays.

The Traindeer, a Pendolino train that has undergone a full festive make over, has caused quite a stir across the country with commuters and train spotters alike taking to social media to report its location. The train, which will continue to run on the Virgin Trains network until the 9th of January, is expected to play host to nearly 65,000 passengers over the Christmas period and could roll in to any UK station unannounced. This weekend, travellers between Glasgow Central and London Euston, and London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly might just be in luck with the train rumoured to be journeying these tracks this weekend.

The Traindeer was brought to life after young sisters Ella and Ruby Prior entered a Christmas card competition at their local station, Manchester Piccadilly. Judges were so impressed with their artistic vision that they decided to transform the design into a real life train for the festive period. 

Steve Tennant, Customer Experience Director at Virgin Trains, commented: “We are so pleased with the public’s reaction to the Traindeer. Ella and Ruby’s design has definitely raised smiles across the Virgin network and we have even heard of people changing their travel plans to ride on-board. The last Friday before Christmas is always a busy day for us, this year we are expecting to host over 100k travellers on our trains. For some lucky travellers this will mean arriving in style aboard the Traindeer.

”For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Traindeer follow @VirginTrains and get #Traindeer updates.