West Coast Main Line Improvement Work Means Changes to Virgin Trains’ Services Over August Bank Holiday Weekend, August 29/30/31

August 9th, 2009 LONDON - ATTN: North West Media Rugby League fans intending to support Warrington Wolves at Wembley on Saturday 29 August are advised not to travel to the game with Virgin Trains. Network Rail will be carrying out work in the Crewe and Rugby areas and rail journeys between the north-west and London Euston will be severely disrupted in both directions on Saturday 29, Sunday 30, and the morning of Monday 31 August.

July 29th, 2009 LONDON - Virgin Trains is slashing the cost of travel between London and the West Midlands by almost a third. From 3 August, passengers can travel for a lot less between London Euston/Watford Junction/Milton Keynes Central and Coventry/Birmingham International/Birmingham New Street; and between London and Rugby.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - Passengers are to be offered thousands of extra seats over the next few weeks on the busy Virgin Trains route between the West Midlands and Scotland through Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Longer trains with more coaches will run between Birmingham and Edinburgh six days a week from Saturday 25 July to Saturday 5 September.

June 30th, 2009 LONDON - Commenting on the Government's decision to take the East Coast franchise in to temporary public ownership, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group said: "Should the East Coast franchise go into default, the Government has made the right decision to take it back. If you bid for a car, a painting or a house and can't pay for it, it always reverts back to the under-bidder or the owner.

June 16th, 2009 LONDON - More Frequent Departures and Even Faster Journeys are on the Virgin Trains Agenda as Demand for Rail Travel Grows and Air Goes Into Decline Virgin Trains is going all out for the Glasgow market, having grounded the airlines between Liverpool and London and become the travel mode of choice for Manchester-London. Today Tony Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Trains, fleshed out more details of the Virgin 2020 vision that was outlined by Sir Richard Branson last month.

June 2nd, 2009 LONDON - We welcome Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation's acknowledgement of the unsatisfactory performance on the West Coast Main Line, which is vindication of the warnings we have given both organisations over the last three years. We are disappointed that NR have spent GBP9 billion on the "upgrade" to deliver the worst performing route on the rail network today.

May 11th, 2009 LONDON - Major Work at Stoke-on-Trent Affects Services Through Until May 31 There will be alterations to services over the spring bank holiday weekend because of route improvement work. At various times though the weekend work will be taking place between Milton Keynes and Rugby, Nuneaton and Lichfield Trent Valley, Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay/Runcorn and in the Stoke-on-Trent area., The work between Milton Keynes and Rugby will be completed at 11:00 on Bank Holiday Monday allowing services from the North West to resume running to and from London Euston while on the same day the line between Crewe and Warrington will re-open at 14:00.

April 19th, 2009 LONDON - There will be alterations to services over the May Day bank holiday weekend because of route improvement work. At various times though the weekend work will be taking place between Milton Keynes and Rugby, Preston and Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow/Edinburgh and in the Stafford area, The work between Milton Keynes and Rugby will be completed at 12:00 on Bank Holiday Monday allowing West Midlands, Preston and Manchester services to resume running to and from London Euston.

April 16th, 2009 LONDON - Virgin Trains will be running additional late evening trains to get fans home after the Champions League Semi-Final football matches between Manchester United and Arsenal. There will be one extra train after each of the two matches.

March 29th, 2009 LONDON - Near Normal Service on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday There will be alterations to services over the Easter weekend because of route improvement work but the principal travel days of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will see virtually full normal services operating. Over the remainder of the holiday weekend there will be work taking place between Milton Keynes and Rugby, Birmingham and Wolverhampton, the Stafford and Crewe areas, between Wigan and Preston and in Scotland between Carlisle and Glasgow Central.

July 3rd, 2009 Metro red line trains to resume normal speedsWASHINGTON — Metro officials say red line trains in greater Washington, D.C., will return to regular speeds this holiday weekend for the first time since a deadly crash. Nine people were killed and more than 70 injured June 22 when one train slammed into another train stopped on tracks.

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - British billionaire businessman Richard Branson has incurred the wrath of trade union leaders by dressing up as a station cleaner in a TV commercial promoting his Virgin Trains network. Branson, who also owns the Virgin Atlantic airline, appeared in the ad wearing an orange fluorescent jacket, his forearms covered in fake tattoos and some of his front teeth blacked out, as he drives a refuse cart through the main train station in Glasgow, Scotland.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Services on the Indraprastha-Yamuna Bank section of Delhi Metro's line III were affected for nearly six-and-half hours Tuesday as a section of signalling cable was stolen from the tracks between these stations Monday night, a Delhi Metro statement said. "A 108 metre-long section of the signalling cable was stolen last (Monday) night, which caused disruption in Metro services from Indraprastha to Yamuna Bank Metro station (on line III - Yamuna Bank to Dwarka Sector-9) from 6 a.m.

July 17th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Train services in Orissa were disrupted Friday due to a 12-hour shutdown in West Bengal by the Congress protesting an attack on party legislators earlier this week, a railway official here said. At least six trains have been cancelled and two trains have been stopped on route.

March 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Britain will have the fastest and most frequent train service in the world by the year 2021. According to The Times, the train is expected to run between London and Birmingham.

July 18th, 2009 LONDON - A Brit train driver may lose his job following claims that he pleasured himself at the controls of a 125mph locomotive. The driver has been accused of ogling porn and performing a sex act while operating on one of the country's busiest lines, and a colleague allegedly wandered into his cabin mid-journey and spotted that his privates were exposed.

June 21st, 2009 SHIMLA - In a freak accident, a 20-year-old man, who was travelling on the Shimla-Kalka holiday special train, was crushed between the tunnel wall and the rail bogie in Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district Sunday, railway police said. "Mohd Mohsin, who was leaning out of the train, was killed when he slammed into the tunnel wall this (Sunday) morning near the Tara Devi station in Shimla," investigating officer Ranbir Singh told IANS.

September 3rd, 2009 Retail sales comparisons for August at a glanceAs shoppers limited back-to-school purchases in August, upscale retailers suffered while some lower-priced chains showed signs of improvement and that the holiday season could be less dismal than feared. Here is how August sales at 30 chains compared with August 2008: — Apparel stores Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

July 9th, 2009 SHIMLA - Three holiday special trains being run daily on the world heritage Kalka-Shimla rail line in Himachal Pradesh to meet the tourist rush have been suspended, a railway official said Thursday. "The railways have stopped plying of three holiday special trains that run to and fro daily on the Kalka-Shimla rail line.

September 30th, 2009 Summary Box: Unemployment dips in most metro areasTHE GOOD NEWS: The unemployment rates fell in about 60 percent of the nation's 380 metro areas in August, according to a Labor Department report. While joblessness is still high, that's a big improvement from June, when unemployment rose in 90 percent of metro areas.