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News Release 7th July 2004VIRGIN TRAINSTwenty-three members of the Lichfield Commuters' Club met with Charles Belcher, Managing Director of Virgin Trains West Coast, and Mike Bone, General Manager Virgin West Midlands Region, over dinner with Michael Fabricant in the House of Commons last night (6th July). Charles Belcher said "A number of valuable issues were raised including the quality of information given out at Lichfield Trent Valley railway station to our customers, bus services from Lichfield Trent Valley to Birmingham International, and the standards of service on our new Pendolino trains. This was done in a constructive way and I shall be reporting back to the Club shortly about what action we intend to take. And I was able to talk about major improvements to the service that will take place from the end of September when tracking work is partially completed. I hope to be invited back for dinner 12 months from now so we can compare notes". "This was the second dinner at the House of Commons for 'ex-pats' from Lichfield" says Michael Fabricant. "Our first guests were the Strategic Rail Authority. Charles Belcher of Virgin spoke about developments on the West Coast Mainline and will be confirming timetables with us shortly. He was very frank and open in his discussions with the Club members. I hope he found the dinner enjoyable and providing valuable feedback. An oddity which came out at the meeting is that Lichfield Trent Valley railway station is one of the few west coast main line stations not operated by Virgin themselves. It is operated by Central Trains and this can cause some difficulties for main line commuters. Charles Belcher said he would investigate how Virgin Trains staff can have better access to the PA system at Trent Valley in order to keep passengers informed of any timetable changes. "The Lichfield Commuters' Club is very informal and a lot of fun. We meet occasionally in Lichfield, but more regularly in a private dining room at the House of Commons where we have dinner and invited guests. Our next meeting to be held in the autumn will have someone from Network Rail who own and operate the track and signals nationally. It is they who will be upgrading the two tracks to four in Armitage. Anyone interested in joining the Club, there is no fee except for the dinners which are charged at cost, should write to me at the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA and let me have their email address. Or I can be emailed by using the webform here. |
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