Pendolino for East Coast

[Jack]

East Coast are looking to have one of the four new Pendolino 11 car sets which were expected to be delivered to Virgin. It would be used for a period of nine months on the London Edinburgh route to enable maintenance of the East Coast fleet.

[timelesstable]

Yorkshire Post full report from 12th August

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Bid-launched-to-run-125mph.6470866.jp

East Coast chairman Elaine Holt said: "I'm very pleased that East Coast has been asked to commission the new Pendolino on the East Coast line.

"While a final decision has not yet been made, if it goes ahead the train would add extra capacity to our fleet and we're sure our customers would appreciate the comfort and facilities that the new Pendolino has to offer."

[SF07]

Press release from East Coast. They hope to have it in operation next July.

www.mediacentre.eastcoast.co.uk/Press-Releases/EAST-COAST-ASKED-TO-COMMISSION-NEW-11-CAR-PENDOLINO-TRAIN-241.aspx

Virgin Trains, who of course have Pendolinos already, have responded, saying they plan to run new Pendolinos on the Scotland-Birmingham route and extend it to London via Milton Keynes, whilst introducing Super Voyagers on the new Manchester-Heathrow Airport route. So Pendolinos from Scotland to London on both East and West Coast lines.

rail-news.com/2010/08/11/virgins-reaction-to-east-coast-main-line-pendolino-proposal/

[mollman]

Please no, I'm not sure which comfort or facilities Elaine Holt was on about but I'd prefer to travel on Mk2s than a Pendy!

[Matty]

They will look a lot nicer than the Class 91's currently used!

[MetrolineGA1511]

Aug 13, 2010 1:00:32 GMT 1 SF07 said:

Press release from East Coast. They hope to have it in operation next July.

www.mediacentre.eastcoast.co.uk/Press-Releases/EAST-COAST-ASKED-TO-COMMISSION-NEW-11-CAR-PENDOLINO-TRAIN-241.aspx

Virgin Trains, who of course have Pendolinos already, have responded, saying they plan to run new Pendolinos on the Scotland-Birmingham route and extend it to London via Milton Keynes, whilst introducing Super Voyagers on the new Manchester-Heathrow Airport route. So Pendolinos from Scotland to London on both East and West Coast lines.

rail-news.com/2010/08/11/virgins-reaction-to-east-coast-main-line-pendolino-proposal/

Would Virgin replace existing Birmingham-London shuttles? If so, passengers may board slower services than necessary from places between Warrington and Scotland, meaning fewer vacant seats for passengers boarding in Birmingham. If not, is there really capacity for more trains into Euston?

An excellent idea to run electric trains from Birmingham to Scotland again. Mind you, it is not guaranteed that Virgin will still be running West Coast services once the line is franchised again in 2012/13.