Virgin Trains is Best in Class

LONDON, January 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin Trains has once again topped the performance league among companies operating long-distance rail franchisees.

The rail watchdog Passenger Focus carries out large-scale independent research across the industry twice a year. Continuing an upward trend, 90% of Virgin Trains passengers were 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with the overall service they received. This is the highest score any long-distance franchisee has achieved in the last nine surveys, and matches a table-topping 90% in the last survey.

On the other key marker of 'Value for Money' Virgin Trains extended the lead it has held for eight of the last nine surveys, topping the table with 65%, a full five percentage points ahead of the nearest long-distance franchisee.

Virgin Trains' Chief Executive Officer Tony Collins said: "Six years ago we carried 14 million passengers. Last year 28 million people chose to travel with us. That's because we have a winning combination at Virgin Trains. We have state-of-the-art trains and the best staff in the business. These outstanding satisfaction ratings are a fantastic tribute to Virgin Trains' people, those who work for our train partners Alstom and Bombardier, and those at Network Rail who maintain our routes. We want to continue delivering the high quality services passengers have come to expect, so we'll be putting in a strong and innovative bid to run the next franchise, which runs from 2012 to 2026."

Notes to Editors:

There have been nine surveys conducted by Passenger Focus since it re-categorised which operating companies should be classed as long-distance operators. The full results of the latest national survey can be found here: http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/nps

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Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; the current franchise runs to March 2012.

Virgin Rail Group is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach

Virgin Trains has been recognised in numerous industry awards. In 2010 the company has been named Best Rail Operator of the Year at the Travel Globe Awards (voted for by readers of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Evening Standard), and Best Rail Operator in the Group Leisure Awards (which we also won in 2009). In 2009 we were also voted Best UK Domestic Train Service by Business Traveller magazine for the second year running. Virgin Trains first achieved Investors In People accreditation in 2007 and this was renewed in 2010; the IIP Gold award was achieved in 2011.

SOURCE Virgin Trains