VIRGIN TRAINS is following Virgin Atlantic in one respect at least.
It likes to keep its name in front of the public and has brought to
our attention the Office of Rail Regulators National Rail Trends
yearbook, covering the 12 months to March 2006. The report shows that
in the final quarter of 2005-6, the Public Performance Measure (PPM)
for Virgin West Coast improved to 89.3% from 74.7% since the same
quarter of the previous reporting year, and Virgin CrossCountry,
Britain's longest distance operator, improved to 86.4% from 82.7%. In
the year to March 2006, passenger journeys on Virgin West Coast
increased by 21.6% to 18.5m on and Virgin CrossCountry continued its
steady improvement of recent years to achieve 20.6m passenger journeys,
an increase of 7% on 2004-5. Also very much with promotion in mind a
Virgin Trains' Pendolino has been adorned in a unique and eye catching
livery to promote the forthcoming release of Warner Bros' Pictures
Superman Returns. Combining scenes from the new movie with Virgin
Trains' own branding the travelling billboard will be seen along the
route to Glasgow for the next six months. Virgin says the Pendolino's
high-speed capability over long distances fits well with Superman's
traditional attributes of strength and speed.
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk