Timely campaign reaps punctuality rewards

Virgin Trains has today announced that performance of its West Coast services has improved with a substantial reduction in delays to train services following the launch of its Every Second Counts campaign earlier this year. The campaign included the issue of ‘atomic’ watches to key staff.

The announcement comes on the day that Virgin Trains will attempt to set a new speed record for the 401-mile journey from Glasgow to London. The train is being run to raise money for the Heaven’s Angels campaign which is supported by the Virgin Unite charity. The current verified Glasgow-London record stands at four hours and 14 minutes.

In the first four months following the ‘Every Second Counts’ campaign launch in February 2006, the Moving Quarterly Average performance figure – the number of trains arriving within ten minutes of booked time – has risen from 80.8% in June 2005 to 88.9% in June 2006. In the same period delays to trains have been cut by over 27%. Delays caused directly by Virgin Trains are down by over 44% to under one-and-a-half minutes for every train run.

Managing Director, Virgin West Coast, Charles Belcher said: “Every Second Counts was about raising the profile of the importance of train performance and working as a team with our industry partners and suppliers. The ‘atomic’ watches issued to our staff have ensured that everyone involved in the running of our trains has the same split second timing.”

Virgin Trains issued the watches to its staff after a survey of station staff, drivers, train managers, onboard staff, suppliers and signalmen showed that there could be significant differences (fast and slow) in the timepieces being used.

“This meant that in some instances staff might not be in the right place at the right time”, said Mr Belcher, “and a mere ten seconds delay at the start of a journey could cause a domino effect, delaying not just that one train even more, but also creating knock-on delays to other trains along the 401-mile route from Glasgow to London.”

Network Rail is working hard to reduce delays on the West Coast and has invested in new equipment to enable its staff to inspect the track safely. In addition it has successfully introduced other initiatives to ensure incidents are dealt with quickly.

In a unique partnership, boxes containing emergency equipment will be carried on all Virgin’s Pendolino trains to enable Network Rail engineers speedy access to the locations of trackside failures, particularly where road vehicle access is poor or slow.

Network Rail Deputy Chief Executive, Iain Coucher said: “Network Rail is committed to improving punctuality and reducing delays for passengers on the West Coast. Performance has been good with the number of late trains falling rapidly and delays caused by infrastructure issues drastically reduced. However we’re not going to rest on our laurels and we will continue to work closely with Virgin Trains to provide an even better service for passengers.”

Virgin Trains has also improved the availability of performance information to its staff and a Performance Hotline has enabled staff to alert managers to frequently recurring performance issues as well as making suggestions to reduce delays even further.

Virgin Trains has worked very hard with its counterparts at Network Rail and Alstom to focus on delivering top class performance. 199 out of 217 trains run every day are now regularly arriving at their destination on time. Passengers are voting with their feet as news of the performance improvements spreads and are choosing Virgin Trains as their preferred travel choice – the company is now carrying over 20 million passengers a year on West Coast.

There is no doubt that passengers using Virgin’s West Coast services are now reaping the rewards of the upgrading of the route. New track and signalling has been accompanied by investment of over £1 billion in 53 state-of-the-art tilting trains and a 125mph timetable with more services and reduced journey times.

The close co-operation between Virgin Trains and its railway industry partners has been singled out by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) as “clearly an example of industry best practice”.

Notes to Editors

Ø Train performance is measured against the industry’s standard Public Performance Measure (PPM).

Ø Virgin’s West Coast services operate on the route from London Euston to the West Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, North Wales, Preston, Carlisle and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

Ø Virgin West Coast is part of Virgin Rail Group (owned 51% by Virgin and 49% by Stagecoach). VRG also operates the CrossCountry franchise.

Ø Heaven’s Angels provides specially adapted motorbikes to deliver healthcare to remote parts of Africa, where tracks are impassable for cars. One health worker and a motorbike costing £5,000 can help save 20,000 lives a year.