Virgin Trains to Provide Extra Seats to Meet Increased Demand From Frustrated Air Passengers on Wednesday 25 May 2011

LONDON, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Virgin Trains will provide over 3000 extra seats on Wednesday 25 May 2011 for airline passengers facing uncertainty over airspace closures due to volcanic ash clouds.

The disruption following airspace closures has seen increases in demand for trains and more seats will be provided on the London to Glasgow and Birmingham to Glasgow/Edinburgh routes.

Besides the extra seats, Virgin Trains will operate an additional train from London Euston to Crewe, Warrington, Wigan and Preston at 13:33 and also extend the 14:30 London Euston to Lancaster service through to Carlisle and Glasgow Central.

An additional 20:40 Edinburgh Waverley to Manchester Piccadilly service will also run calling at Preston and Crewe.

Based on experience during prolonged airspace closures last year ,Virgin Trains has now set up a mechanism for quickly uplifting services in response to ash cloud warnings.

For details of times and fares and for booking tickets visit virgintrains.com or any Virgin Trains ticket office.

A decision on the level of service to be run later in the week will be made in the light of further updated forecasts from the Met Office.

Notes to Editors

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Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; discussions are currently taking place with regard to the extension of the current franchise through to 8 December 2012 and we have been invited to bid for the new franchise.

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

Virgin Trains has been recognised in numerous industry awards. In 2010 the company has been named Best Rail Operator of the Year at the Travel Globe Awards (voted for by readers of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Evening Standard), and Best Rail Operator in the Group Leisure Awards (which we also won in 2009).. In 2009 we were also voted Best UK Domestic Train Service by Business Traveller magazine for the second year running. Virgin Trains first achieved Investors In People accreditation in 2007and this was renewed in 2010; the IIP Gold award was achieved in 2011.