Virgin Trains: Easter improvement work at Rugby

Virign Trains logo for press releases

Thursday, 06, Mar 2008 12:00

No direct Virgin services to or from London Euston on Good Friday No Virgin services to or from London Euston Saturday 22 to Monday 24 March

inclusive

Reductions to services on Tuesday 25 March

Extensive improvement works are taking place in the Rugby area over the Easter Holiday period. This is to allow Network Rail to complete another crucial phase of the project to streamline the complicated set of junctions north and south of Rugby station for the new improved Virgin Trains timetable starting next year. Trains will be unable to pass through the area whilst most of this work is going on.

As a result there will be no direct Virgin services to and from London

Euston on Good Friday 21 March. Between Saturday 22 March and Easter

Monday 24 March inclusive there will be no Virgin services to or from London Euston while on Tuesday 25 March there will be significant reductions to the normal weekday service. Here follows a day by day summary of the main alterations.

Maundy Thursday, 20 March

There will be a normal weekday service with some additional trains mainly on the London to Preston route.

Good Friday, 21 March

All Virgin Trains services from the Midlands and North will terminate and start back from either Birmingham International or Coventry. A frequent replacement coach service will run in both directions between Birmingham International and Northampton. This will connect with a 20 minute frequency train service running in both directions between Northampton and London Euston serving also Milton Keynes and Watford Junction. Services between the North Wales Coast and Euston will run in both directions between Holyhead and Crewe only.

Saturday 22 March to Monday 24 March

All Virgin Trains services from the Midlands and North will terminate and start back from either Birmingham International or Coventry. Passengers travelling to and from London will need to use alternative rail routes as shown below:

Route Operator

Glasgow/Edinburgh ? London Kings Cross National Express East Coast

Liverpool/Manchester ? London St Pancras Int. East Midlands Trains

Manchester ? London Paddington CrossCountry/First Great

Western

Birmingham ? London Marylebone Chiltern Railways

Services between the North Wales Coast and Euston will run in both directions between Holyhead and Crewe only and will be subject to extended times due to engineering work between Chester and Crewe. On Sunday 23 March the line will be shut between Penrith and Carlisle and a replacement coach service will run in both directions

Tuesday 25 March

The route is open into London Euston but with a reduced service, due to diversions via the West Midlands which will result in extended journey times. Trains from London Euston will depart earlier than the normal weekday times. Customers are advised, if possible to delay their journeys to the Wednesday or Thursday of that week, as services are likely to be very busy.

Additional replacement coach services

From Friday 21 March to Monday 24 March, London Midland will be operating coaches for local passengers between Coventry and Northampton in both directions including a call at Rugby

From Saturday 22 March to Monday 24 March we will be operating the following coach services in both directions: between Rugby and Kettering connecting with East Midlands Trains to and from St Pancras International, between Milton Keynes and Birmingham International connecting with trains to and from the North, and between Watford Junction and High Wycombe connecting with Chiltern Railways services to and from London Marylebone.

For further information passengers should contact National Rail Enquiries by visiting nationalrail.co.uk or calling 08457 484950.

End

For further media information contact the Virgin Trains Press Office on

0845 000 3333, or visit our media website at www.virgintrainsmediaroom.com.

Notes to Editors

Images of Virgin Trains and the company's operations are available on our online media website www.virgintrainsmediaroom.com. You will need to register to access the Media Resources section containing high-resolution images of our operations.

Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; the current franchise runs to March 2012.

Virgin Rail Group is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach

Virgin Trains has recently been listed as the Best Train Operator in a survey by the Institute of Customer Service; came joint top of the long-distance train operators for passenger satisfaction in the National Passenger Survey and has been voted Best Rail Company by Travel Weekly magazine