Virgin Cross-Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virgin Cross-Country (VXC) is the branch of Virgin Trains that operates express train services all over Great Britain.
Contents |
[edit] Routes
- VT1: Penzance and Manchester Piccadilly to Edinburgh, Glasgow Central and Aberdeen.
- VT2: Bournemouth, Brighton and Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
- VT3: Penzance, Newquay, Paignton and Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow Central and Aberdeen.
[edit] Trains
The Cross-Country routes are operated by Class 220 Voyagers and Class 221 Super Voyagers. These were introduced to replace the thirty-year-old High Speed Train fleet that had been so successful at building passenger traffic on these routes. They also replaced the elderly Class 47s. The principal differences between the Voyager and Super Voyager fleet are that the Super Voyager usually consists of five carriages rather than the Voyager's four, and like the Pendolino can tilt when going around curves in order to allow higher speeds. This means that Super Voyager units have significantly more complex bodies than Voyagers.
[edit] Future
It has been announced [1] that the Cross Country franchise will finish in 2007 as part of a franchise reshuffle in the Midlands. The new franchise will include former Central Trains CityLink services, but the Manchester to Scotland service will be transferred to TransPennine Express. Additionally, services to Guildford, Gatwick Airport and Brighton will cease.
The Department for Transport announced on 19 September 2006 that four parties had pre-qualified for the new franchise[2]:
- Arriva Trains Cross Country Limited (Arriva Group)
- First Cross Country Limited (First Group)
- NXC Trains Limited (National Express Group)
- Virgin Voyager Trains Ltd (Virgin Rail Group)
Media comment is at [3], including a map of the routes involved. As a result of the new arrangements, the current four franchises will become three:
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- Cross Country
[edit] See also
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1) |
|---|---|
| International: | Enterprise4 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7 |
| 1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains 4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail 7 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval | |
