Virgin agree to longer Liverpool trains - in 2012

Aug 1 2008

LONGER trains will finally arrive on the congested Liverpool to London line after the Government made peace with rail firm Virgin – but not until 2012.

A deal has been struck for Richard Branson’s company to help design, manufacture and test new Pendolinos for the flagship West Coast route, after the hatchet was buried on an increasingly bitter row.

But the 106 badly-needed extra carriages will almost certainly not be introduced until a new franchise is under way on the West Coast, from April 2012.

That will be two years later than Virgin wanted to put them in place – after warning that a rail boom would be forcing passengers to stand on one-in-six trains without them.

But Ministers refused to extend Virgin’s franchise until 2014 in return for running extra carriag-es, branding it “blackmail”, and even sought a rival operator to test the Pendolino.

The differences have now been settled, but vital time has been lost. Furthermore, the deal only covers the making and testing of the new trains – not putting them on the track.

Nevertheless, Transport Minister Rosie Winterton said: “This agreement is a key part of our future plans for the West Coast main line.”

And a Virgin spokesman added: “The Department for Transport is happy, we are happy. Happiness has broken out all over.

“Under this new agreement, we will be the project managers but – unlike the old agreement that was suggested – all the risk will be taken on by the DfT.”

The “notice to proceed” covers 70 carriages by stretching 35 of the existing 53 Pendolinos to 11 cars, plus four new trains of nine carriages each.

It is separate to the new timetable promised for next year – dubbed VHF, or Virgin High Frequency – which will add three extra daily, weekday trains out of Liverpool.

They will start running in January, provided a troubled track upgrade can be completed in time. The line is being shut down every weekend for the rest of the year to help that happen.

Previously, it has been suggested that the new Pendolinos will be ready up to one year before the new franchise starts in April 2012.

That opened up the possibility of empty “ghost” trains being run around the rail network to keep them in good condition, while West Coast passengers suffered the misery of overcrowding.

A DfT spokeswoman said: “If some of the new trains are ready before 2012, it may be possible to reach an agreement to introduce them on to the line at that time.”

That is only likely to happen if Virgin wins the next franchise, because the firm has ar-gued it is too costly and time-consuming to lengthen the trains without that certainty.