Virgin Trains

...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 ...
...book in advance through the Virgin Value Fares offer. Through this offer you get reductions in price, plus a reserved seat, and the earlier you book the less you have to pay. The three options are, with the level of price reduction in relation to the earlier you book, three days, seven days and fourteen days. Note though that these are limited so get in as early as possible - especially on busy routes, weekends and/or if there is a major event that ...

Benniash 08.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...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 ...
...I have probably travelled with Virgin trains a total of 12 times this year, a return journey being 2 in total. Now, upto recently, I had rarely experienced any delays of note. I wasn't sure if this was just the luck o' the Irish (well 1/4 of me hails from the Emerald Isle!) or if Virgin just wasn't as bad as everyone made them out to be. Well, last weeks journeys re-affirmed my faith in word of mouth! I was travelling to Weston Super Mare for a couple ...

jambo5678 19.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

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 ...
...as part of the massive Virgin Group. The Trains: The trains are either Voyager or Pendolino. They can reach speeds of 140 mph and tilt around curves, pretty exciting! If you are unlucky you may be on one of the older trains, which are frankly, a bit rubbish. The trains are pretty nice inside, well for a train anyway. Compared with the old First Great Western trains they are amazing! In standard class the seats are cosy and the legroom is good. Each ...

Katieshaz 20.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

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 ...
...a Virgin operated station I have found them to be courteous, helpful and willing to get you the cheapest fare available. Busy stations can have long queues and a special trip to the station can be a bit annoying when buying your ticket in advance. This is one tip I would give to anyone. If you know where and when you are going and coming back (providing it is not a day trip) you can save a lot of money by booking advance and getting a Virgin Value ...

goodematthew 02.06.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...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 ...
...in this country. Virgin , just like any other company are dependent on railtrack for the quality of the rails . So if a broken rail occurs just south of say Newcastle two rail companies will be hit - GNER and Virgin . Add on a third if you count EWS ( English Welsh & Scottish )the freight company. All trains wishing to use that piece of line will obviuously be delayed . That is not Virgin or any other train operating companies fault . But it is ...

Gardenex 30.08.2001 (04.09.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...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 ...
...It is reckoned that Virgin make most of their money between the North-West and London as they have a fairly captive market. Into Scotland they are competing with other rail operators and airlines and the fares are good value. I think the fare from Preston to London is about the same as from Glasgow to London. Colleagues travelling from Birmingham to London often pay premium rates because of the restrictions on cheap ticket availablility Puctuality ...

mark-southside 16.04.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...times I have travelled on Virgin trains I always receive great service from the stewards and stewardesses. The driver also always keeps you informed of any delays and times. So dispite all the problems they have faced with all the other rail companies they have got through it. I have always found the members of staff to be most helpful, polite and very cheery out of all the train operators I have used. The best time was on christmas eve when a steward ...
...not have any complaints with Virgin Trains and where I can I will use their services a lot more, even if I have to change cos they make your journey more comforting than any of the others. They offer first class coaches, quiet coaches and those where you can play your wlakman and use a mobile phone.They also offer a wide choice of hot and cold snacks, crisps, chocolate and drinks such as beer, coke, water,tea and coffee. They also have many toilets ...

coolchanty 06.01.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...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 ...
...discounts for booking direct with Virgin and because there were four of us. Also one of us bought a Family Saver (I think that was its name) which reduced the price even further. We did have to queue up for the tickets but the line was only about five minutes long and I also noticed that you could get your tickets quicker from a machine next to the branch. There was never more than one person waiting at these so they must be a good idea if ever I ...

Ste_cuppello 22.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...a white train with red Virgin trim). He asked the country’s rail users to be patient, said that the company would inject vast amounts of money into improving things, but it would take time. And the rail users waited, and the next day, said, “Sir Richard mate, things haven’t improved at all. Trains are still expensive, dirty, infrequent, often late and uncomfortable.” “I may be a genius, but I can’t do miracles ...
...According to its website, Virgin Trains, operates two rail franchises, West Coast Trains and CrossCountry Trains. The West Coast network operates from London Euston to the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and Scotland. CrossCountry, with Birmingham at its hub, operates services to the South West, the South Coast, the North of England and Scotland. CrossCountry has some of the longest services in the UK such as 'The Wessex Scot' which travels ...

alliecat 24.08.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...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 a somewhat draining experience as there was invariably a queue of people apparently wanting to purchase tickets for the next train due and only one counter open, now you can book online at one of several sites, my preference is virgins ...
...best rates of cashback (currently virgin trains are offering £4 per booking via topcashback). Once you have your tickets booked what sort of service should you expect on the trains? Well contrary to many opinions the trains operated on this line are among the most modern rolling stock on the line's today as the West Coast Main is the home of the 'tilting' train the Pendolino, distinctively liveried in Virgin colours of Red, Yellow and Silver/Grey ...

scuba_angel 02.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

..."InterCity" routes are operated by Virgin Trains, so I have become something of a regular with these services. To be fair, I am sure that many of my observations would apply equally across most rail carriers - nonetheless, Virgin Trains remain the focus of my attention. Rail travel has come under intense scrutiny over recent months and years, with a marked increase in the number of rail accidents, as well as a continued decline in reliability and ...
...My first observation around the Virgin Train service is that the rolling stock appears to be very dated. Despite the fact that the trains have been decorated out in trendy Virgin livery, underneath this they look and feel like the same trains that have been on the networks for donkey's years. I have to say that, on the whole, Virgin seem to make an effort to keep the trains clean - despite the fact that the seat covers and carpets are visibly worn, ...

LostWitness 10.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...imperfect world of UK railways, Virgin is far from being a showpiece. Virgin run an extensive network of routes throughout Britain, but the company concentrates its efforts on the longer-distance journeys, which has led Branson (misguidedly, in my view) to try to shape the business into a sort of "ground-based airline". To this end, great emphasis has been placed on airline-style gimmicks and methodology. A good example is the replacement of First ...
...explain the phenomenon of the Virgin Departure Time, by which a train can be announced as "on time" up until ten minutes after said time, but can then immediately become an hour late. Occasionally, the train is cancelled altogether, which would seem to indicate that the experiment has failed, and a rogue photon has winked the service out of existence (you can check the truth of this by asking a member of the Virgin staff - very often they will deny ...

davidbuttery 08.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...where surprisingly a brand new Virgin Pendolino pulled up at the platform. I got on it which i don't think i was supposed to but no-one will ever know :P and it was exactly as i expected to be ~ crowded, hot and fast. ..: Frequency :.. Virgin operate 334 trains a day i think it is and for that amount of trains in one country i was surprised they weren't running more often especially with most trains capable of over 100mph. From London Euston station ...
...annoyances with Virgin from today was i got a train that didn't depart for half an hour, i got settled and the 'Assistant Train Manager' came over the tannoy and said the train had been cancelled - no reason at all ~ i had to wait for about 3/4 hour for the next one to depart so when this does happen it would be useful if Virgin were more frequent and reliable. ..: On-Board Facilities :.. Quite a lot of stuff has been cramped into the new Pendolinos ...

james564 19.02.2005 (20.02.2005) · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

When you think of Virgin Trains, what springs to mind? Delays….more delays…..even more delays…..cancellations!! This used to be my first thought when I discovered that the route I was travelling was run by Virgin and would do my best to avoid the service. Needless to say, I have had bad experiences, but these were a few years ago and until recently I had never been on a Virgin Train that had been on time! Virgin run train services ...
...power points near seats to charge laptops and mobiles. I’m starting to change my opinion on the Virgin Service, I think they are starting to get their act together! Just watch now, after writing this the next time I travel with them it will be a nightmare!! ...

JoMerrington 13.06.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains

...best bit. Wait for it- Virgin claims to pride itself on customer service. So how do they explain taking 6 weeks to reply to a letter of complaint. The reply was merely stating that my letter had been received and a full reply would follow shortly- I'm still waiting! I've phoned Virgin and asked them what was taking so long and they claimed they've sent me a reply. I requested a duplicate copy several times, but to no avail. I've given up now, but ...
...lot money for a student. Then of course there was an incident at the end of Easter. I was returning from my holiday break in London, when our train broke down in Wilmslow. The driver announced the train had broken down but no information was given after that. After continual harassment, we were told that we would have to wait an hour for a replacement train, after we had already waited half an hour! It was ridiculous. By The time we got back, everyone ...

jai_shah 07.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Virgin Trains