Virgin Trains- Bon Voyage(r)! UPDATED ON 29th July 2003 (Virgin Trains)

Member Name: dan 2000

Product:	Virgin Trains
Date:	24/03/03 (3243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New Trains replaced most of the old trains, Good facilities, Friendly staff

Disadvantages: Old trains unreliable sometimes. That aside they are good

I have chosen this title because of Virgin Trains new trains- The Voyager and Pendolino. I have travelled with them 4 times. I have never got to experience the new trains but they surely do look nice. There punctuality will probably get better as the new trains are smoother and more modern. That is the main reason why Virgin Trains get a low rating. Because of the amount of delays they suffer. Hope they get better.

STAFF
On all of my trips the trains staff have been friendly and polite. Like I said on the review about First Great Western- you don't see Train staff much but with Virgin when you do they are pleasant. Sometimes they talk as if they know you. This is a plus point. To me staff from every product should be friendly. Virgin certainly are. I want to fly with Virgin Atlantic too.

TRAINS
Now the new Voyager trains are said to be on Cross Country routes with Pendelino trains on West country routes. They look sleek, smoth and as I have seen one- comfy. In the booklet it says that all seats have access to audio systems. Standard class looks good and instead of the buffet, on these new trains they have a small shop. You can view seat maps of the Voyager and go on a 360 tour of the Pendelino on www.virgin-trains.co.uk aswell as viewing photos. Just follow the links. I haven't travelled on one of these before, but I have on First Great Western. The old Virgin trains are abit drab looking but alright. Not much different to First Great Westerns old trains. The configurations are either two seats together likeairline seats with fold up/down tables and seat pockets, or 4 seats witch face each other. These are the type of 4 both pairs of seats face the other pair:
ss
T
ss
This is the two ones:
ss*
tables are fold down.
Two seats have seat pockets in the front of you, while 4 seats have it on the window by the table.
The old trains are not the most reliable either, they are old. That does not

p
ut me off because most of their fleet are the new ones. They still have the usual facilities of a big train comapny like a buffet as i will tell you about in the next paragraph...

BUFFET
All Virgin Trains have a buffet area. I think Fist Class(on West coast routes0 and CLub(on Cross Country routes) have a trolley service. The new trains have a shop which provides the same aswell as magazines, newspapers, headphones and more. I got this from looking at the web and leaflets. The older trains have a buffet area still, which I can review. On entering the buffet, there is a menu behind the counter with the list. I really liked the buffet. If you are a child in the holidays then you will be qiven a Virgin Trains "KIDZ" bag with activities. It is also stylish. I had one. It has young child activities aswell as older kids ones too. Also there kids "KIDZ" programme features children choices. I really love buffets, don't you? You can just get a refreshing drink if your thirsty or stop hunger by having a snack. Great! The staff are also good. Enjoy!

ROUTES
The routes I can't say because they cover most of the UK and they have different leaflets. They have services, new trains, your ticket, aswell as all the timetibles for different routes. You can find out on www.virgin-tarins.co.uk though. They now go from my local station Cardiff CEntral which they started about last year(2002) or a couple of years ago(2003). They don't go to London, just the Cross Country to Scotland with all the station(or most) inbetween. I have learnt that if you go on a West Country route then the upgrade is First Class and the new trains being Pendelino, and Cross country being Club as an upgrade, and Voyagers being the new trains. First and Club have similar facilities. I haven't been on an upgrade but they look nice.

MY OVERALL EXPERIENCE
Well, I don't work for them, never have, my family don't, its just
I lik
e trav
elling and holidays and I like finding out things. The standard seats are quite comfortable, friendly staff, good food and more. This is going to change soon with voyager, hopefully being better. The old trains are not great but ok. I have travelled mostly on the Cross country routes, from Cardiff to Gloucester and Cardiff to Bristol Temple Meads for the start of my holiday to Corfu with Air2000 from Bristol(I have written a review about this company, Air 2000). I have travelled on a West Country route from Gatwick to Reading. All have been good. Don't be worried about delays, from the new trains I think(I hope) they will be better.

Please could you leave a comment and rate this review(you can only do this if you are a member of dooyoo). Thank you for your time. Thank you for reading my other reviews if you have. If you have written a comment or rated a review of mine then thanks for your time.


***UPDATED*** 29/07/03
I recently travelled on one of the new Voyager trains which was absolutely fabulous. It was smoother, faster and the coaches were brighter and futuristic. They have electronic reservation screens above the seats to ensure that nobody takes the cards off and you have a reading light. Down the aisle on the ceiling are halogen spotlights and there is a small self-service shop with books, snacks, cd's headsets ect. Each seat has a audio system which is sited inbetween each pair of seats, they have a good range. Headsets are priced at two pounds and is one pin so you can use them time and time again on your own systems. Toilets are large and you press a button to open the door and there is a automatic wash basin. The trains left bang on time and arrived at each station early so we had to wait until the scheduled time so that people could get on it if they wanted to get on it when it was supposed to leave. So, with the four car Voyagers, the four and five car Super Voyagers (which tilt) and the four(I t
hink) Pendolino Trains, V
irgin Trains can be like the rest of the Virgin group- great. Also, two trains can join for more cars. All Cross-Country routes now have the new Voyagers and Super Voyagers and they rae upgrading the West Coast routes with tilting Pendolinos (which by the looks of it on the website is pretty much the same)
Thank you.

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