What do you who live in GB think of this? Will this impact my Virgin train tickets from London to Windemere in September??


Dear Jane

It is not all over in the battle to make the Government see sense and reconsider the decision to award the West Coast Mainline franchise to FirstGroup.

An e-petition, set up completely independent of Virgin by a member of the public, is calling for the government to reconsider the decision.

Over 20,000 people have already signed the e-petition. Once we get 100,000 signatures from UK citizens the issue may be debated in the House of Commons. We urge you to sign the e-petition and let the Government know how passionately we all feel about keeping the West Coast Mainline as a Virgin Trains franchise.

The final decision has not been signed off and we want as much support as possible to force the Government to reassess this ill-judged decision. August 28th is the provisional date for the signing of the contract for the next franchise, so do sign the e-petition as soon as possible.


Sign the e-petition

Richard Branson

These are two huge and combative corporations and it will take months if not years for the transfer of services to take place. When you arrive next month Branson will still be sending up his hot-air balloons and your ticket will still be good. I don't live in the UK but I'd carry on as if nothing has happened, since it really hasn't so far as the customer will notice.

Virgin does not lose its franchise until December 9th when a new operator takes over. I signed that petition because Virgin have offered a great service since 1997.

Our government decided to accept a new franchise because they offered to pay the government a higher stipend despite the same company walking away from a previous rail franchise when they faced going bankrupt.

It will not have any impact on your travels. So enjoy your Lake district holiday. windermere is lovely but suggests getting to Keswick and Borrowdale my favourite spot in the lakes.

Phil

It is a shame to see Virgin lose the franchise. I think they offer a good service and hear nothing but good reports.

Privitization sucks and results in countless debacles like this one - many franchises have been awarded to competitors based on bids and poor performance of current one.

Yet in years now of riding privitized trains the UK as a whole has trains much worse in terms of comfort, crowding in 2nd class and timeliness than practically any rail system in Europe, except PERHAPS Albania.

Bring back British Rail and do like other nationalized rail system in Europe do - make them modern state of the art systems like EVEN Italy and Spain have done - high-speed rail is still being talked about in Britain as it has been now for a few decades yet little gets down.

the revampm of the West Coast mainline a few years back was one of Europe's most expensive upgrades of rail infrastructure in years but what do they have for the money - trains marginally faster but ones on which you still cannot drink a cup of coffee on your table without it shaking like an earthquake has hit.

Britain's rail system is a shambles and re-awarding contracts just ain't the issue - but do not cry any tears for Sir Richard Branson either IMO - the fact that Virgin has not performed up to par probably is the reason he is losing the franchise.

"the revampm of the West Coast mainline a few years back was one of Europe's most expensive upgrades of rail infrastructure in years"


...and was commissioned and supervised by the government owned rail infrastructure company. Which shpws whay a rotten idea privatisation must be.

The overcrowding on Britain's trains is the result of the fact that passenger numbers have grown faster since privatisation than anywhere else in Europe. Uniquely in Europe, UK railway passenger numbers are now as high as they were in the 1920s: none of the continent's hobby railways, where immense sums are squandered on pretty looking new trains, can match privatised Britain's increase in passengers.

to answer your question, Jane, no, this does not affect your tickets in September. although there is reference to the new contract being signed at the end of August, the old contract with Virgin runs until December.

I agree entirely with the other sentiments expressed - apart from Pals - giving this to First is a bad idea. their forecasts are wildly over-optimistic, and they appear not to have learnt the lesson of the past when another line run by them went bust. ditto the government.

expect virgin to put a lot of money into UK flights competing with the trains they used to run.

OK, thanks everyone. BTW, I did not vote since I am not a UK citizen--didn't feel it was appropriate!