Article from BTNews 1 MAY 2017
Record for Virgin Trains
More than half a million journeys taken between London and Cumbria in the past 12 months have set a new record as Virgin Trains celebrates 20 years on the West Coast Main Line.
New figures show 517,000 journeys were taken between 1 April 2016 – 31 March this year, a little over 12 months from the devastating floods that hit the region in 2015. The number of journeys has increased by a third in the past five years.
The figures follow the introduction by Virgin Trains within the past year of m-tickets across all west coast routes, extension of the booking horizon to six months, and the introduction of an on-board entertainment portal.
The company says it has also achieved the highest level of punctuality since it began running trains on the West Coast Main Line 20 years ago.
Virgin’s west coast general manager Anna Doran said: “The floods of 2015 had a devastating effect for many Cumbrian residents and businesses, so we’ve worked hard, alongside others, to spread the message that Cumbria is open.”
Virgin partnered with Visit England to support the “Love the North” campaign by offering discounted fares to flood-hit regions, including Cumbria, and renamed Pendolino 390010 The Cumbrian Spirit.
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