LONDON, 2016-Apr-20 — /Travel PR News/ — This morning (Apr 18, 2016), commuters were invited to relax and enjoy the feeling of grass beneath their feet in the ‘Zen Zone’ in Virgin Trains’ refurbished First Class Lounge. The ‘Zen Zone’ joins meeting, working and resting zones in the revamped lounge, which includes innovative furniture, a bold splash of red, and even a resident masseuse.
This is one of eight refurbished First Class lounges to be rolled out on the train operator’s East Coast route and comes in response to a six per cent increase in First Class travel since Virgin Trains took over the franchise a year ago and embarked on a £21 million upgrade to its fleet.
Alison Watson, Customer Experience Director, Virgin Trains on the East Coast said “We’re passionate about giving our customers the best possible experience and that starts long before they board our trains. We know that being able to relax ahead of a journey or prepare for that key business meeting is one of the things that our customers really value. We’re confident that providing some Virgin style to these lounges will help us to meet the increasing demand for First Class travel.”
The ‘Zen Zone’ is being trialled for a month.
About Virgin Trains
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the East Coast and West Coast inter-city routes under the Virgin Trains brand. Together, they are on track to revolutionise rail travel across the UK.
The combined network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, York and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains as one of the top long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
On the East Coast route, £140m is being invested to create a more personalised travel experience. This includes a major fleet revamp, smarter stations and exciting new routes. From May 2016, there will be 42 additional services (22,000 extra seats) per week between Edinburgh and London. 2018 will see the introduction of completely new Azuma trains being built in the UK by Hitachi.
The West Coast route has a proud record of challenging the status quo – from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
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Virgin Trains launches ‘Zen Zone’ in its refurbished First Class Lounge