West Coast Main Line Improvement Work Means Changes to Virgin Trains’ Services Over May Day Bank Holiday Weekend, May 2/3/4

August 18th, 2009 LONDON - There will be alterations to services over the August bank holiday weekend because of route improvement work. At various times through the weekend work will be taking place between Leighton Buzzard and Rugby, and between Crewe and Warrington Bank Quay/Liverpool Lime Street.

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.

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 - Passengers will be invited to celebrate the return of the weekend by tucking in to a Great British Breakfast bargain on selected Virgin Trains on Saturdays and Sundays this month. Complimentary food including breakfast or brunch will be offered to customers who upgrade to First Class on 16 weekend trains in an experiment to test demand on routes between London Euston and Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Preston and Manchester.

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 18th, 2009 LONDON - With Photo A way forward for the UK's busiest long distance rail route to meet ever increasing passenger and freight demands was today mapped out by Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group of companies. Among the initiatives that could happen within the next decade are: - Journey times of under 60 minutes between London and Birmingham - Construction of an underground extension to Birmingham International station with a direct link from there to the West Coast Main Line at Lichfield using the existing M6 corridor - Journey times of under 4 hours between London and Glasgow - Link the West Coast Main Line at its southern end with both Heathrow and HS1 to Europe - Strip down and modernise crumbling stations and replace them with fit for purpose buildings that work efficiently for rail passengers and can be a source of pride to the local community.

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 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.

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.

February 14th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The tracks damaged in the rail accident Friday in Orissa's Jajpur district have been repaired and train services resumed normal operations Sunday, an official here said. Both up and down line tracks were damaged after the Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express got derailed just at the point of crossing of the tracks near Jajpur-Keonjhar Road railway station, over 120 km from here.

August 16th, 2009 Tropical storm warning issued for parts of Fla.MIAMI — A tropical storm warning was issued Sunday for parts of Florida as a newly formed depression swirled about 90 miles off the coast. The warning was issued for areas east of the Alabama state line to the Suwanee River.