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Home > Travel > Holiday Essentials > Train > Virgin Trains

User Reviews

for Virgin Trains

Rating Summary based on 102 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		11
  • 4 Stars
    		31
  • 3 Stars
    		18
  • 2 Stars
    		18
  • 1 Star
    		24

Detailed rating

  • Frequency of trains
  • On-board facilities
  • Speed of trains
  • Ticketing System
  • Value for Money
  		• 3.5
  		• 3.5
  		• 3.7
  		• 3.5
  		• 3.2
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 11 | 1 to 10 out of 102 Review(s)
  • 63 of 63 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of rosebud2001

    Level 8 rosebud2001

    Member since 04/05/2009

    Reviews written: 444

    3 Stars A Tale of Two Classes Diamond review Review with images 15/02/2011
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Fast journey times, modern trains, good customer service

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Expensive, trains can be uncomfortably overcrowded, lack of luggage space

    Back in the day British Rail ran the railways and the “backbone” if you will of the country’s rail network was the West Coast Mainline. Following rail privatisation in 1994, Virgin trains won the franchise to operate on the line – which takes in routes from London Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. Virgin also operate the franchise for trains operating between Edinburgh and Glasgow and Birmingham New Street. I travelled on the West Coast Mainline frequently in the days of British Rail. I even travelled on the old Advanced Passenger Train back in the early 80s prior to the ... more
  • 81 of 82 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Benniash

    Benniash

    4 Stars 08/03/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages On time, clean, excellent customer service

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Some routes not ideal, transfer times not ideal for all journeys

    When it comes to business in general you can’t help but admire the empire that Richard Branson has built up. You only have to enter the word Virgin in the product search on Ciao to see the vast array of products and services he has in his portfolio. But out of all of them the one that seems to come under constant scrutiny is his train company, unsurprisingly called Virgin Trains. Despite being a frequent train user over the years I’d never used them before but as a reward for completing a postal survey about the company my other half was offered two free day returns to anywhere in the country ... more
  • 53 of 53 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of jambo5678

    jambo5678

    2 Stars NOMADIC COWS, DISTRESSED WOMEN..VIRGIN ON MADNESS 19/08/2001
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages see op

    Disadvantages Disadvantages see op

    Those rather random comments will be explained later, but have summed up some of the laughable experiences that I have had with Virgin trains recently. Virgin trains spawned from Richard Branson's multi-pronged entrepreneurial empire, following the privatisation of the railways. Despite some other companies running nationwide services, such as the economy fares of Silverlink, Virgin is by far the most comprehensive service, covering most areas of England, Wales and Scotland. However this, by no means, makes it the best!! Although at the moment, Virgin is probably the best of a bad, bad bunch ... more
  • 50 of 50 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Katieshaz

    Level 6 Katieshaz

    Member since 01/11/2002

    Reviews written: 121

    4 Stars Forget about flying! Review with images 20/09/2006
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Nice trains, mostly on time, has an onboard shop, large route network

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Some grumpy staff members, some tickets may be expensive.

    My experience of Virgin Trains is that it is one of the better train companies in the UK. Seeing as my experiences on Arriva and First Great Western have generally been below par this may not be saying that much! About the company: It all started in 1996 Virgin Trains won the Cross-Country and West Coast franchises. The network is vast covering from Penzance to Aberdeen. In London their base is Euston station. 334 run everyday and Virgin carries 33 million passengers annually. Virgin Trains are bought to you courtesy of Sir Richard Branson as part of the massive Virgin Group. The Trains: The ... more
  • 42 of 42 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of goodematthew

    goodematthew

    4 Stars Its not all bad you know 02/06/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Excellent customer service.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Trains are unreliable and sometimes dirty.

    Virgin Trains is a company that has received a lot of stick recently, but when travelling with Virgin is not as bad as people make out. Today I am going to take you on what I can only call a typical journey with Virgin Trains, looking at every aspect from getting your ticket to leaving the station at your destination. BUYING YOUR TICKETS The first step in your journey is to buy your ticket. This can either be done at a railway station, by phone or on the Internet. When I have bought tickets at a Virgin operated station I have found them to be courteous, helpful and willing to get you the ... more
  • 46 of 46 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Gardenex

    Gardenex

    4 Stars Don't bet against Richard Branson 30/08/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages good fare offers

    Disadvantages Disadvantages can be frequently delayed

    We've all heard the jokes about Virgin trains being late and unreliable . Whilst the company admit that things can only get better I wish to put things into context and perspective. I have used Virgin and indeed all major rail companies in the past few months and my first point is I found Vigin no worse than any other train operating company. Don't kid yourself about the problems facing Virgin and indeed most rail companies in this country. The biggest one is the run down , neglected state of track and infrastructure that we have in this country. Virgin , just like any other company are ... more
  • 28 of 28 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of mark-southside

    mark-southside

    4 Stars let the train take the strain 16/04/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages can be cheap, less stressful than driving

    Disadvantages Disadvantages can be expensive, fellow passengers can be a pain

    I imagine few people have not travelled on Virgin Trains as they cover much of the length and breadth of the UK Virgin trains are half owned by Virgin (the bearded one) and Stagecoach, the bus operator which also runs South West Trains, and which expanded when the UK bus industry was sold of at knock down prices They do not own the track and do not own the trains, these are leased from people like the Bank of Scotland At this stage into their franchise, they should have been paying the Government for their concession, but they are negotiating an ever-increasing subsidy from the taxpayer. Some ... more
  • 23 of 23 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of coolchanty

    coolchanty

    5 Stars They try their best 06/01/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages execellent services, the driver always introduces himself and lets you know how the journey is going, wide choice of snacks and drinks available

    Disadvantages Disadvantages none

    It is not surprising that since the Hatfield rail crash the passenger numbers dropped as people lost all confidence in the railways. Railtrack were the biggest cause of all the rail cancellation, delays and diversions and this was caused by speed restrictions put into place by railtrack after the Hatfield crash as they realised that many of the railways needed repairing. Most passengers on the trains of today are people travelling to and from work and if there were constant delays and cancellations it's not surprising that they stopped using the trains as they were unable to obviously continue ... more
  • 23 of 23 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Ste_cuppello

    Ste_cuppello

    4 Stars given a bad name 22/08/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Very helpful staff and very reliable trains

    Disadvantages Disadvantages the only thing is the services on-board the train

    I have recently been on a trip to London from Manchester and used Virgin Trains there and back. Their has been a lot in the papers and on TV recently saying how unreliable and how late they always are so I felt after traveling well on both trips i ought to write a review. Although I only used the train twice I have since spoke to some people who all agree that the service is good and find it hard to make critisims. First of all was buting the tickets. It cost around £30 pounds there and back which is an excellent price for a trip covering 600 miles. We received some discounts for booking ... more
  • 25 of 25 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of scuba_angel

    scuba_angel

    5 Stars Are you a train Virgin? 02/11/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages fast, few delays

    Disadvantages Disadvantages occasional delays, cost if booked late

    It's coming up for the party season again so I have recently spent rather a lot of time making travel arrangements, one method of travel I seem to utilise rather alot these days comes in the shape of the West Coast Mainline, between Manchester/Stockport and London Euston, while in a previous life time I was very familiar with the Manchester/Edinburgh section of this same line, this route is operated by Virgin Trains and has been for several years. Thankfully these days the booking process is somewhat easier than it used to be, having to go in to the train station to book tickets I always found ... more
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