Virgin Trains is highlighting the environmental benefits of its hugely popular Pendolino services, as the network continues to rack up substantial mileage.
Now a familiar sight on the West Coast Main Line, the Alstom-built trains hit the headlines recently when a fatal accident claimed one life and injured several others in northern England, but the robust Pendolino design was widely credited with preventing further disaster.
Virgin now says that by next weekend, its combined fleet of 53 vehicles will have travelled more than 38m miles or the equivalent of nearly 48,000 return trips between London and Glasgow.
A new UK television advertising campaign is also stressing the environmental benefits of the trains that Virgin says emit 76% less CO2 than cars and 78% less than air travel, as well as returning substantial amounts of energy to the National Grid.
”The 125mph (200kmh) Pendolino trains save energy and reduce pollution as they return energy to the electrical feeder stations every time they brake,” said a Virgin statement.
”The 53 tilting trains, built and maintained by Alstom, are fitted with electronic control systems that cause the traction motors to provide braking effort by generating electricity back into the supply system, achieving overall energy savings of 17%.”
From the introduction of the enhanced West Coast timetable in January 2009, the daily mileage is set to increase by almost 25% to 49,000 miles per day, with a number of Pendolinos covering more than 1,200 miles every day.