Virgin Trains have announced that they have broken new records for passengers travelling between the West Midlands and London.

The train operator is celebrating 21 years of operating the West Coast route, new figures have show it carried more than 2.2m passengers between the West Midlands and London between April 2017 and March 2018 – up 4.6%.

Over the four week period leading up to Christmas 2017, over 200,000 journeys were made by Virgin Trains between Birmingham and London. Up 10.8% on the previous year/

The figures coincide with a year that saw punctuality reach its highest ever level since privatisation.

What did the officials say?

The increase in numbers was warmly received by Paul Faulkner, CEO of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce:

“As our region continues to go from strength to strength, it’s essential we have first class rail links to support this growth. It’s great to see Virgin Trains investing heavily in improving services between the West Midlands and London.

“Not only are Virgin Trains putting the needs of the customer at the heart of the travel experience, they are a playing a massive part in enriching regional connectivity – all of which will help unlock the economic potential of the Midlands and bring prosperity to the country as a whole.”

Amanda Hines, Virgin Trains’ General Manager for the Midlands, said:

“The West Midlands is an integral part of our west coast route, a region we have been proud to call home for the past twenty one years. In that time journey times have been slashed and service innovations such as BEAM and more availability of low fares have helped drive increased customer satisfaction and boost our local communities as more people are attracted to rail.”

• Visit the Virgin Trains website
  For more information
• Visit the RailAdvent news homepage
  For the latest railway news
• Visit the RailAdvent Shop
  For railway related goodies!