25.01.17
Virgin Trains completes £40m East Coast fleet refurbishment
Virgin Trains has completed its £40m programme of refurbishing its entire East Coast fleet.
The TOC has spent the last two years refurbishing its current fleet of 45 High Speed and Intercity 225 trains to improve passenger experience.
The programme forms part of Virgin’s wider pledge to invest £140m to transform travel on the East Coast network since it assumed control of the franchise in March 2015.
David Horne, Virgin Trains’ managing director on the east coast, said: “Since we launched services on the East Coast Main Line in 2015 we have committed more than £40m to improving our existing fleet, to give customers the best possible experience when they travel with us.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have completed our refurbishment programme, and passed another milestone on our journey towards totally transforming travel for our customers on the east coast.”
The refurbishment scheme saw all Virgin Trains on the east coast route kitted out with new interiors at the cost of £21m, including new leather seats in First Class and red cloth seats in Standard Class.
The programme, which saw 410 carriages revamped and 24,427 seats replaced, also included new carpets and fittings for the trains.
Stephen Timothy, client relations director at Eversholt Rail, congratulated Virgin Trains on the successful conclusion of the refurbishment programme.
“We are sure passengers on the east coast will be delighted with these new look trains, and we are pleased that Eversholt Rail’s investment in our InterCity 225 fleet has played a key role in this transformation,” Timothy said.
The completed refurbishment comes ahead of the arrival of Virgin Trains’ new fleet of faster Azuma trains, which are set to launch in 2018. Earlier this month, Network Rail confirmed that they would spend three weekends in January extending Platform 1 in Durham station in order to accommodate the new trains.
(Image c. Virgin Trains)
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