Good, but not yet Good Enough, says Virgin Trains

LONDON - Virgin Trains today welcomed news that more and more customers are satisfied with their journeys, but admitted “Our performance is not good enough yet”.

Latest figures from the National Passenger Survey for Spring 2009 show that Virgin Trains has increased to 86per cent the overall satisfaction score from its customers, from 85per cent in 2008.

In 16 out of 18 ‘train factors’ categories, customers marked Virgin Trains above the average for long distance operators. Virgin Trains saw a huge rise in satisfaction on the amount of room on-board and scheduled journey times, following the introduction of a new timetable this year with 30per cent more trains.(see notes)

But on punctuality, Virgin Trains fell behind the national average, as customers voiced frustration at delays caused by infrastructure problems on the West Coast Mainline. Just 79 per cent of customers were satisfied, compared to 85per cent in Spring 2008.

Tony Collins, Virgin Trains Chief Executive, said: “We are very pleased that so many customers have voiced greater satisfaction over many areas of our business, such as value for money, room on board and the amount of luggage space, and quality of toilet facilities. And the overall satisfaction score is a great tribute to our staff.

“But punctuality is fundamental, and we have not delivered that in recent months because of the continuing track problems. We have made clear to Network Rail that this needs to improve and we are pleased that the Office of Rail Regulation last week published a plan of work for Network Rail to improve the quality of infrastructure.

“Only when those improvements are in place will we at Virgin Trains share the growing satisfaction of our customers.”

Notes

The National Passenger Survey is carried out across all train operators each Spring and Autumn by Passenger Focus, and more than 25,000 customers are asked their opinions.

Out of 18 ‘train factor’ categories, Virgin Trains was above the long distance average in 16, and its scores rose from 87 per cent satisfaction to 92 per cent on the length of time the journey is scheduled to take, and from 66 per cent to 77 per cent on having sufficient room on board.

Notes to Editors

The National Passenger Survey is carried out across all train operators each Spring and Autumn by Passenger Focus, and more that 25,000 customers are asked their opinions.

Out of 18 ‘train factor’ categories, Virgin Trains was above the long distance average in 16, abd its scores rose from 87 per cent satisfaction to 92 per cent on the length of time the journey is scheduled

Virgin Trains Media Information

Images of Virgin Trains and the company’s operations are available on our online media website www.virgintrainsmediaroom.com. You will need to register to access the Media Resources section containing high-resolution images of our operations.

Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; the current franchise runs to March 2012.

Virgin Rail Group is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach.

Virgin Trains has been listed as the Best Train Operator in a survey by the Institute of Customer Service and has been voted Best Rail Company by Travel Weekly magazine and Best UK Domestic Train Service by Business Traveller magazine.

Source: Virgin Trains

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