Railtrack and Virgin Rail Group Announce Largest Ever Investment in Britain's Railways.LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 1997-- - 2.1 billion pounds infrastructure project now underway - doubling high speed train services by 2005 - 750 million pounds committed to trains - innovative revenue sharing revenue sharing Funding arrangement in which one government unit grants a portion of its tax income to another government unit. For example, provinces or states may share revenue with local governments, or national governments may share revenue with provinces or states. agreement Railtrack PLC and Virgin Rail Group announced today that they have agreed on a new deal to transform the aging West Coast Main Line and give Britain its first true high speed railway. In addition to the current 1.5 billion pounds Railtrack has already committed to modernize the route, another 600 million pounds on the infrastructure has now been agreed. Virgin is in the final stages of selecting a manufacturer for its state of the art fleet of more than 55 new advanced tilting trains A tilting train is a train with a mechanism that enables increased speed on regular railroad tracks. As any vehicle rounds a curve at speed, independent objects inside it exert centrifugal force since their inherent momentum forward no longer lies along the line of the vehicle's (ATT ATT ammonia tolerance test. ) which should be introduced on the route from summer 2002. An additional 75 diesel trains are planned to be acquired to serve a variety of national routes. This 750 million pounds commitment should enable Virgin Rail Group to increase the number of passengers it carries from 25 million per annum Per annum Yearly. today to an estimated 50 million per annum in 2005. In addition to the improved capacity, the combined investment will see shorter journey times, much higher levels of passenger comfort and improved punctuality Punctuality Fogg, Phileas completes world circuit at exact minute he wagered he would. [Fr. Lit.: Around the World in Eighty Days] Gilbreths disciplined family brought up to abide by strict, punctual standards. [Am. Lit. . In particular, it will provide a network to accommodate tilting trains operating at speeds of up to 140 mph - slashing slash·ing adj. 1. Bitingly critical or satiric: slashing wit. 2. Dashing; pelting: a slashing hailstorm. 3. journey times on routes to the Midlands, North West England
North West England is one of the nine official regions of England. It has a population of 6,853,200[1] and comprises five counties of England – Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire. and Scotland. The work which will be undertaken in two stages, includes substantial improvements to the whole railway to reflect the needs of all West Coast passenger and freight users. The first stage of the upgrade will provide an operating speed The operating speed of a road is the speed at which motor vehicles generally operate on that road. The precise definition of "operating speed", however, is open to debate. of 125 mph. This will be completed by 2002 and the slow lines will be upgraded to 100 mph at the same time. The second stage will create a high speed, high capacity railway offering all train operating customers, using the route, considerable benefits. The investment will allow Virgin to effectively double its service to 11 trains an hour into and out of London Euston and other operators to expand their services. The introduction of a state of the art train control system replaces existing signaling and is designed to bring enhanced levels of safety. The phase two 600 million pounds infrastructure investment will be financed partially through conventional track access charges and partially by a revenue sharing deal agreed by Railtrack and Virgin Rail Group. This stage is due to be completed by May 2005 and is subject to approval by OPRAF OPRAF Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (UK) and ORR. A final decision by ORR is expected early 1998, once all interested parties have been consulted. Railtrack and Virgin are now working on a further deal to secure maximum customer benefits from the introduction of the new fleet of at least 75 diesel trains on the Cross Country network. This should result in higher frequencies and shorter journey times for the nationwide route network stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and Brighton and Glasgow. Announcing the deal, Richard Middleton Notable individuals named Richard Middleton:
1. an instrument for locating urethral strictures. 2. a dental instrument for tracing the course of root canals. path·find·er n. deal reflects the confidence that both Railtrack and Virgin have in an expanding future for the UK rail industry and will set new standards for the millennium. Such investment has been long overdue and the benefits for customers from more frequent, reliable and faster trains will revolutionize rev·o·lu·tion·ize tr.v. rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·es 1. To bring about a radical change in: Television has revolutionized news coverage. 2. the industry." The two stage investment process listed above is expected to transform Virgin services as indicated below: -0- Frequency each way: 1997 2002 2005 per hour 5 6 11 Journey times: Manchester 2hr 30 2hr 1hr 45 Birmingham 1hr 40 1hr 15 under 1hr 15 Glasgow 5hr 20 4hr 20 3hr 50 Liverpool 2hr 45 2hr 05 1hr 55 -0- For further information please contact the Railtrack press office on 0171 557 8292/3 or Virgin Rail Group on 0121 643 6647. Recent press releases can be found on the Railtrack web site at the following address: http://www.railtrack.co.uk/corporate/notice CONTACT: RAILTRACK Peter Durman, 011-44-171-557-8151 or Taylor Rafferty Associates Brian J. Rafferty, 212/889-4350 |
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