News Release

17th May 2001

THE FIGHT FOR THE 05.59 CONTINUES

Michael Fabricant has now received a letter from Chris Green, Chief Executive of Virgin Trains, telling him that he will not reverse the timetable decision to cancel the 5.59 early morning service from Lichfield to London from the 21st May. In his letter, Mr Green says "The existing timetable has evolved with history and has some trains which call successively at Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield and Stafford…. It is just not tenable to decelerate the new trains in this way and we shall have to adopt a 'skip-stopping' policy along the Trent Valley…… Tamworth generates about three times more business than Lichfield and I really do feel that we have given the Trent Valley the most balanced service that we can in an imperfect world".

But Michael Fabricant has written back to Chris Green asking him whether his figures are correct for the early morning period. "All the evidence suggests that far more people join the train at Lichfield Trent Valley railway station than at Tamworth for the early morning service", says Michael Fabricant. "Chris Green's information applies for the whole day, not for that specific early morning train. I am asking him to undertake further marketing research.