VIRGIN TRAINS
Twenty-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.