Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast HST at Leeds station
Overview
Franchise(s):	InterCity East Coast 1 March 2015 – 31 March 2023
Main route(s):	London - Aberdeen London - Edinburgh London - Newcastle London - York London - Leeds London - Newark
Other route(s):	London - Inverness London - Glasgow London - Sunderland London - Skipton London - Bradford London - Harrogate London - Hull London - Lincoln
Fleet size:	31 InterCity 225 sets 14 InterCity 125 sets
Stations called at:	53
Stations operated:	12
National Rail abbreviation:	GR[1]
Parent company:	Stagecoach Group (90%) Virgin Group (10%)
Website:	www.virgintrainseastcoast.com
Route map

Virgin Trains East Coast^[2] is a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operates the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. It commenced operations on 1 March 2015, taking over from East Coast. It is a joint venture between Stagecoach (90%), and Virgin Group (10%).

History

In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new InterCity East Coast franchise.^[3][4] In November 2014, the eight-year franchise was awarded to the Stagecoach/Virgin joint venture company Inter City Railways Limited,^[5] and commenced operating on 1 March 2015 trading as Virgin Trains East Coast.^[6][7][8][9]

Services

Typical off-peak Monday-Friday service pattern (including other inter-city services)

Virgin Trains East Coast took over all of the services operated by East Coast. It categorises its weekday services from London King's Cross into four routes:^[10]

	Route	Off-peak frequency	Calling at (off-peak)	Peak-time extensions
A	London King's Cross - Leeds (and West Yorkshire)	2tph	xx:05 service calling at Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds xx:35 service calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds	1tpd to Skipton via Keighley 1tpd to Bradford Forster Square via Shipley 1tpd to Harrogate via Horsforth
B	London King's Cross - Edinburgh (fast)	1tph	York, Darlington, Newcastle Central, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edinburgh Waverley	1tpd to Inverness 1tpd to Stirling 4tpd to Aberdeen (3 from London King's Cross, 1 from Leeds) Leeds early morning- Aberdeen
C	London King's Cross - Newcastle Central and Edinburgh	1tph to Newcastle; 1tp2h extended to Edinburgh	Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Northallerton (1tp2h), Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Alnmouth, Edinburgh Waverley (Northallerton is served by trains to and from Newcastle only)	1tpd to Glasgow Central 1tpd to Sunderland
D	London King's Cross - Newark / York	1tph to Newark, 1tp2h extended to York	Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Retford, Doncaster, York	1tpd to Lincoln 1tpd to Hull

New services

Virgin Trains East Coast introduced once per day services to Stirling and Sunderland via Newcastle on 14 December 2015, along with one extra service each weekday evening between Hull and Doncaster via Selby.^[11] In May 2016, a number of weekday services to Newcastle have been extended to Edinburgh meaning there is almost a fully half hourly service between the two Major Cities. From December 2016, Morpeth will have additional stops provided by the operator to improve connections to either Edinburgh or London and are proposing to extend services that terminate at Newark and York to Lincoln and Harrogate respectively.^[8] In May 2019, it is proposed that a half-hourly service to Edinburgh be introduced with a fleet of six to eight 9-car InterCity 225 sets operating limited stops services. In May 2020, it is proposed to extend services to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough.^{[6][8][12][13]}

Rolling stock

Virgin Trains East Coast inherited a fleet of InterCity 125 and InterCity 225s from East Coast. Most driving vehicles received a Virgin logo within the first three days of the franchise, and all train sets received a full Virgin Trains East Coast livery by November 2015. Attention then turned to the interiors with toilets to be refreshed and seat covers and carpets replaced,^[14] with the first refurbished set entering service on 31 December 2015, as of 14 August 2016 all of the HST sets are now refurbished.

In July 2015, an additional InterCity 125 set was transferred from East Midlands Trains.^[15]

In September 2016, Virgin Trains East Coast hired a Class 90 from DB Cargo for use on services to Newark, York and Leeds.

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number
				mph	km/h
InterCity 125	Class 43		Diesel locomotive	125	200	32
	Mark 3 carriage		Passenger carriage	125	200	117
InterCity 225	Class 90		Electric locomotive	110	177	1
	Class 91		Electric locomotive	140	225	31
	Mark 4 carriage		Passenger carriage	140	225	302
	Driving Van Trailer		Driving Van Trailer	140	225	31

Future

All of the current fleet are scheduled to be replaced by Class 800/Class 801 high-speed trains from December 2018. These will operate in 9-carriage and 5-carriage sets.^[16][17] In March 2016, VTEC announced that its IEP trains would carry the brand name Azuma, the Japanese word for "East".^[18][19]

If VTEC's application to operate extra limited stops services to Edinburgh is successful, it is proposing to operate these by retaining six to eight InterCity 225 sets.^[13]

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number of Units	Carriages	Routes
				mph	km/h
Hitachi Super Express[20]	Class 800 Azuma		Bi-Mode Multiple Unit	140	225	10	5	All Routes
						13	9
	Class 801 Azuma		EMU	140	225	12	5	All Electric Routes
						30	9
InterCity 225	Class 91		Electric locomotive	140	225	TBC (6 to 8)	TBC (10)	London-Edinburgh
	Mark 4		Passenger carriage	140	225
			Driving Van Trailer	140	225

Depots

Virgin Trains East Coast has four main depots:

• Bounds Green TMD in London
• Neville Hill TMD in Leeds
• Heaton TMD in Newcastle - managed by Northern
• Craigentinny TMD in Edinburgh - used for repaints and heavy duty maintenance

Operation

Punctuality

According to VTEC: "CCTV footage shows Mr Corbyn returning to Coach H and sitting down at 11.43am, shortly after being filmed while sat on the floor and more than 2hrs before his final destination, Newcastle."^[21]

The public performance measure (PPM) shows the percentage of trains which arrive at their terminating station on time. It combines figures for punctuality and reliability into a single performance measure. The most recent figure (in the four weeks from 13 December 2015 - 9 January 2016) for Virgin Trains East Coast's PPM was 82.0%, up from 81.1% in the same period a year ago. The moving annual average PPM was 86.9%.^[22]

Profitability

Virgin Trains East Coast is forecast to pay higher premiums to the government than its predecessor East Coast did: £3.3 billion over eight years, compared with East Coast’s £1 billion over five years.^[23]

Incident with Jeremy Corbyn

In August 2016, a video was released of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in which he said he was forced to sit on the floor on a VTEC train to Newcastle because the train was "ram-packed". At the time, Corbyn said "Is it fair that I should upgrade my ticket whilst others who might not be able to afford such a luxury should have to sit on the floor? It’s their money I would be spending after all.”^[24][25] However, Virgin Trains later released CCTV footage which they said showed Corbyn walking past empty seats in Coach H, filming the video and then walking back to Coach H to sit for the rest of the journey.^[26][27] Corbyn said about the incident "Yes, I did walk through the train. Yes, I did look for two empty seats together so I could sit down with my wife, to talk to her. That wasn't possible so I went to the end of the train."^[28]

References

1. "Commercial Information" (PDF). National Rail Timetable (Sunday 17 May 2015 to Saturday 12 December 2015 ed.). Milton Keynes: Network Rail. pp. 12, 20. ISSN 1367-0352. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
2. Companies House extract company no 4659708 East Coast Main Line Company Limited
3. East Coast rail shortlist revealed BBC News 17 January 2014
4. InterCity East Coast franchise shortlist announced Railway Gazette 17 January 2014
5. Companies House extract company no 8753471
6. Stagecoach and Virgin win East Coast mainline rail franchise BBC News 27 November 2014
7. More seats, more services and new trains for East Coast passengers Department for Transport 27 November 2014
8. 3.3bn premium wins East Coast franchise for Stagecoach and Virgin Railway Gazette 27 November 2014
9. Virgin bid wins East Coast franchise The Railway Magazine 27 November 2014
10. Route Map Virgin Trains East Coast
11. Triple Swoop for Virgin Trains
12. "Stagecoach/Virgin bid wins East Coast franchise" The Railway Magazine issue 1366 January 2015 page 6
13. "Review delays ORR decision on ECML train paths" Rail issue 778 8 July 2015 page 10
14. Planned Improvements Virgin Trains East Coast
15. "Mk3s transferred to VTEC" Rail issue 779 22 July 2015 page 29
16. Intercity Rail Travel Presentation Department for Transport 27 June 2011
17. Britain's Intercity Express Programme reaches financial close International Railway Journal 25 July 2012
18. "Edinburgh to London train journey time to be cut to four hours". BBC News. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
19. "VTEC considers route options for new Azuma fleet". Rail. Peterborough: Bauer Media. 13 April 2016.
20. "EMU Formations". AbRail. AbRail. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
21. https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/about/media-room/#/latest_media
22. "Network Rail Performance figures (updated every four weeks)".
23. "repainted and rebranded Virgin Trains East Coast service leaves London".
24. "Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn forced to sit on the floor of a train carriage after backing strikes by rail workers".
25. "Jeremy Corbyn sits on floor of overcrowded train – video".
26. "Revealed: Jeremy Corbyn had a seat during train journey he suggested was so 'ram-packed' he had to sit on floor".
27. "Virgin Trains clarifies Labour Leader's claim of "ram-packed" service".
28. "Jeremy Corbyn angered by train seat row questions".

External links

• Media related to Virgin Trains East Coast at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website