Virgin East Coast fleet refurbishment complete

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Photo: Virgin Trains East Coast.
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Virgin Trains has completed a £40 million refurbishment of its HST and 225 fleets.

Forty-five trains used on the East Coast route have been refurbished, with new interiors fitted to 410 carriages.

More than 24,000 seats have been replaced, leather in first class and red cloth in standard, with new lighting adding to the customer appeal.

This investment is part of a £140 million commitment to create a ‘more personalised travel experience’. It comes ahead of the introduction of the new Hitachi Class 800/801 ‘Azuma’ IEP fleet which will begin operations during 2018.

Virgin Trains East Coast managing director David Horne was pleased with the result of the refurbishment.

“Since we launched services on the east coast mainline in 2015,” he said. “We have committed more than £40 million to improving our existing fleet, to give customers the best possible experience when they travel with us.

“It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have completed our refurbishment programme, and passed another milestone on our journey towards totally transforming travel for our customers on the east coast.”

The 225 fleet is leased from Eversholt Rail. Stephen Timothy, Eversholt’s client relations director, commented: “We are sure passengers on the east coast will be delighted with these new look trains, and we are pleased that Eversholt Rail’s investment in our InterCity 225 fleet has played a key role in this transformation.”

Report by Nigel Wordsworth

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