Virgin Trains Launches New Media Room Website - Sign Up Now

LONDON, June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Virgin Trains has launched a new look Media Room website offering journalists an improved one stop shop for all the latest news about the company.

The site includes press releases, the company factsheet and feeds from Virgin Trains on Twitter and Facebook, all presented in one place.

Please visit http://www.virgintrains.com/mediaroom to check out the new site. It can also be accessed from the 'About us' section of the company's website http://www.virgintrains.com.

To receive our content live, as and when we publish it, you can sign up to follow us by clicking on the 'Follow Virgin Trains' button (on the left near the top of the page).

The new site uses the latest version of the Mynewsdesk platform, launched earlier this month following a nine-month development programme based on extensive research amongst journalists.

The existing Media Room site will be closed soon. If you are subscribed to that site, we will not be able to transfer you across, so you will need to sign up to follow us on the new site.

Notes to Editors

Virgin Trains has revolutionised rail travel by creating a high speed, high frequency service that has cut journey times and made rail journeys more comfortable. It has operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997, serving key UK cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Glasgow.

Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group (VRG), which is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach. The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded VRG a franchise contract, which started on 9 December 2012 and will run for up to 23 months. The DfT announced on 26 March 2013 a programme for letting future franchises, with the long-term West Coast franchise expected to start in April 2017.

Virgin Trains has been recognised in numerous awards. In September 2012 Business Traveller magazine readers voted the company the Best UK Domestic Rail Operator for the sixth year running. In 2011 the company was named Best Rail Operator in the Group Leisure Awards (which it also won in 2009 and 2010). In 2011 Virgin Trains won the British Quality Foundation's Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction.

Customers consistently rate the company the top long-distance rail franchise operator, as measured by the National Passenger Survey (NPS) run by industry watchdog Passenger Focus. In the most recent NPS (Autumn 2012) overall satisfaction was 92%, our best score ever.

Virgin Trains first achieved Investors In People accreditation in 2007 and this was renewed in 2010; the IIP Gold award was achieved in 2011. In May 2013 Virgin Trains renewed its accreditation against the criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management's (EFQM) Excellence Model, which it originally achieved in May 2011. The company's Learning and Development team won a National Training Awards 2011 West Midlands award for its Coaching Culture programme.