Virgin loses UK train routes
UK rail company Arriva has won the battle for control of half of Virgin’s cross-border long distance trains, with on-board shops being scrapped and an ageing fleet of trains reintroduced in an attempt to ease overcrowding.
Arriva has also threatened to increase some fares by 3.4% above inflation every year – more than Virgin since it won the franchise ten years ago.
Arriva – which currently only runs trains in Wales – will run the franchise from November until April 2016.
Virgin’s Richard Branson said he was “extremely disappointed” and is seeking a meeting with the government to find out why it lost, with Arriva’s bid thought to have won for being the lowest cost to the government – a total of £1.05 billion in subsidy, which is due to shrink to just £5 million a year by the end.
Aberdeen-based FirstGroup, which runs First ScotRail and National Express, were the other losing bidders.
The reshaped franchise means Arriva will take over only about half of the franchise’s Scottish services, with some of the others retained by Virgin by being switched to its enlarged West Coast franchise, which includes Glasgow-London trains.
Trains via the east coast main line, such as Dundee-Penzance, Britain’s longest direct service, will switch to Arriva, while west coast main line services like Glasgow-Birmingham will be retained by Virgin.
This also opens up potential competition between them on routes such as Edinburgh-Birmingham, with Virgin’s service via the west coast quicker but less frequent than Arriva’s via the east coast.
Scotland-Manchester trains will switch from Virgin to Trans-Pennine Express and Arriva said it would add 14-16 seats to Cross Country’s four and five carriage diesel Voyager trains, which have 184-246 seats.
Luggage space – a longstanding travellers’ gripe – will be increased by up to 25% and to achieve this, toilets will be reduced by one on each train to two and three respectively.
The shop will be replaced by a trolley service and carriage layouts will be altered so that the extra seats will not be in such window-less areas.
Arriva is also leasing five 30-year-old high-speed trains, which will be refurbished, some having been mothballed, to run on routes such as Edinburgh-Plymouth, with Virgin saying they were twice as expensive to lease and maintain as the Voyagers which replaced them five years ago.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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