Long-distance operator CrossCountry has secured a further five Voyager trains from rolling stock company Beacon Rail. This significant capacity boost comes just months after CrossCountry secured seven additional Voyager trains last October.
These 12 extra trains, totalling 60 additional carriages, will enter operation from May 2025, boosting capacity on North-South routes by over 36,000 seats per week.
Julian Edwards and Scott Maynard, CrossCountry’s Interim Managing Directors, said: “We’re delighted to announce these transformational changes in fleet and on-board experience, which customers will start to benefit from as soon as this summer.
“Our teams are working hard to ensure the smooth introduction and refurbishment of extra trains and we look forward to working with colleagues at Alstom and Beacon Trains to give the ever-impressive Voyager fleet a new lease of life on the CrossCountry network.”
A new timetable has also been proposed for May 2025, which will see the introduction of more services and longer trains across the network, especially on CrossCountry’s busy Reading to Newcastle corridor.
From June 2024, CrossCountry will progressively introduce extra trains following their release from Avanti West Coast, which will provide a boost in capacity of around 12,000 seats per week in time for the busy summer months.
In a further move to relieve crowding on some of CrossCountry’s long-distance services this summer, some temporary changes to the timetable will see busier services make fewer station calls from June to September.
Wakefield West, Chesterfield, Basingstoke and Winchester will all see adjustments to their calling patterns, which should encourage passengers to make shorter journeys to switch to other operators. In turn, this should free up further capacity for CrossCountry passengers making longer journeys.
CrossCountry has also announced the complete refurbishment of both of its train fleets, transforming the onboard experience of customers by summer 2026.
Image credit: CrossCountry
