Rugby fiasco must never happen again, says Virgin Trains

02 January 2008

Virgin Trains today welcomed the announcement of an investigation by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) into the continuing disruption to West Coast Main Line Services.

The ORR began an urgent investigation into the delays to engineering work, as Network Rail announced that train services would not return to normal tomorrow (Thursday) because of major track and signalling work.

Tony Collins, CEO of Virgin Trains, said: "This has been a fiasco and our customers expect and deserve better.

"We are pleased that the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is investigating this urgently and we must ensure we never have a repeat of the last few days. We also want to be sure that Network Rail has a firm grip on maintenance going forward and we will raise this with the ORR."

Virgin Trains is advising its customers not to travel on its services tomorrow Thursday 3 January due to the continuing failure of Network Rail to complete major engineering work in the Rugby area.

This has forced Virgin Trains customers to use bus services in the Midlands, although Network Rail has assured Virgin Trains that it is likely that the West Coast Main Line will reopen at Rugby on Friday.

Virgin Trains also announced that Saver fares would be available on all trains, including peak services, next Monday and Tuesday, to enable customers to travel at cheaper prices at peak times.

It added that customers holding Virgin Trains tickets dated for tomorrow (Thursday) who decide not to travel can claim a full refund from where they purchased the ticket. As an alternative they will be allowed to use these tickets to travel by Virgin Trains’ services on Friday 4 January, Saturday 5 January, Sunday 6 January, Monday 7January or Tuesday 8 January.

Mr Collins added: "Network Rail rightly admits that this project has been handled appallingly. We now need to cope with the effect of Network Rail's failure and we are doing everything possible to make sure customers get to their destinations.

"We welcome Network Rail's assurance that the line will open on Friday but, given recent delays, we will also have a contingency timetable in case of further problems.

"We now need Network Rail to work closely with operators to give reliable information to customers. They have failed to do this in recent weeks.”

Passengers to/from London are being urged to use alternative routes for their rail journeys, examples of which follow: -
Coventry - CrossCountry/Chiltern Railways via Leamington to Marylebone
Birmingham - Chiltern Railways to Marylebone
Birmingham/Coventry – CrossCountry/First Great Western via Reading to Paddington
Nuneaton – CrossCountry/East Midlands Trains via Leicester to St Pancras
Rugby - Drive to Kettering then East Midlands Trains to St Pancras
North West England - Trans Pennine Express/East Midlands Trains via Sheffield to St Pancras
North Wales - Virgin Trains/CrossCountry/Chiltern Railways via Birmingham to Marylebone
Scotland – National Express East Coast to Kings Cross

ALL Virgin Trains tickets will be accepted on these routes including Open Returns/Singles, Savers, Seasons and Value Advance products.

Virgin Trains will only be able to operate a very restricted service of trains compared with the normal weekday schedules. A 20-minute interval shuttle service will run from Euston to Northampton where connecting coaches will convey passengers to Birmingham International. Just three trains each hour will start from Birmingham International, one to Liverpool, one to Manchester and one to Motherwell (for Glasgow). Anyone deciding to travel via Northampton and Birmingham International should expect journey times of at least two hours longer than normal.

More information can be obtained from http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ or by calling National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.