Virgin Trains delivers huge passenger boost for Glasgow

Published on : Monday, August 4, 2014

virgin-trains-logo-300x115Virgin Trains has seen a huge uplift in passengers travelling from England to Glasgow over the last fortnight as the city celebrated one of its biggest sporting and cultural events.

The cross-border rail operator will have carried around 40,000 additional passengers to and from Glasgow over a 16-day period between Monday 21 June and Tuesday 5 August, an increase of more than 55% compared to the same period last year.

 

A significant proportion of those travelling have taken advantage of Virgin Trains’ Advance fares, traversing the 400-mile route from London along the West Coast Main Line for under £30.

 

Latest figures show that, while the overall number of Advance tickets sales increased by more than 55%, the number of tickets sold for less than £30 has grown by more than 200%.
 
Gary Iddon, Virgin Trains’ General Manager for Anglo-Scottish services, praised the efforts of staff in delivering Virgin Trains’ famous customer service over the past fortnight: “We’re proud to have supported Glasgow this summer when the eyes of the world have focussed on the city,” he said.

 

“It’s a great responsibility to ensure that people travelling to and from the city are looked after and our staff haven’t disappointed, ensuring that visitors have made the most of their journeys as well as their experience on arrival.
 
“The increase in sales of Advance tickets for less than £30 is particularly pleasing. We’ve ensured that tens of thousands of people have easy and affordable access to Glasgow this summer.”
 
Virgin Trains introduced an additional 3000 seats per day on its Anglo-Scottish services last December, ensuring it had sufficient capacity in place to cope with the upsurge in passenger numbers over summer.
 
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “This is the most exciting and high-profile year in Glasgow’s history. The city has come alive over the past fortnight and hundreds of thousands of visitors have enjoyed a world-class Commonwealth Games.
 
“Through their new passenger facilities and staff training, Virgin Trains has played its part in ensuring as many visitors as possible have enjoyed great journeys to and from the city.
 
“We welcome Virgin Trains’ ongoing commitment to Glasgow, which will mean even more passengers arriving into the heart of the city and ready to make the most of their visit.”
 
As part of its preparation for Glasgow’s summer events, Virgin Trains partnered up with Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) to deliver a unique “Glasgow Welcomes” training programme to frontline staff.

 

It has also recently launched a First Class Lounge at Glasgow Central Station which has been branded with GCMB’s award-winning People Make Glasgow imagery.

 

The Glasgow Welcomes programme, which is designed and delivered by the city’s tourism service initiative, Glasgow Welcomes, is being used by Virgin Trains to complement its existing customer service training with destination-specific information.
 
Ewen Brand, Station Manager Glasgow & Edinburgh for Virgin Trains, explained: “We’ve changed our customer service approach from a ‘platform to platform’ mentality towards a more destination-focused model.
 
“We recognise that our passengers have a better experience if our staff can offer them more support across their entire trip, so it’s essential our staff develop a real connection with destinations and have knowledge they can pass on to passengers. It means that our teams can help people to plan their visit in Glasgow from the moment they check-in 400 miles away at Euston.

 

“Glasgow Welcomes is a perfect addition to our programme because it provides a wealth of destination information on Glasgow and everything there is to see and do in Glasgow this summer.”

 

Source:- Virgin Trains

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