| Intercity West Coast choo-choo
provider Virgin Trains slapped a no-smoking ban throughout their fleet this week. From now
on, partakers of the weed will need to brace themselves for long periods fagless as high
speed expresses trundle past Beattock at speeds in excess of 20mph. The
news came in the week that Virgin boss Richard Branson unveiled the latest Italian tilting
train IL Pendolino to replace the current model IL. Stationari on the beleaguered route
between Glasgow and London.
The new trains, Mr Branson went on, would soon be offering
faster journey times than airlines linking the two cities. |
He appeared to be referring to the
little known Sopwith Camel service that flies to London via Vladivostok. Improved
journey times would however depend on Railtrack refurbishing the rail bed and engineers at
the track maintenance company consider it one of the most expensive projects undertaken.
A spokesspanner told the JT: "We're talking about a cost of £1M per rail
mile, or 50p per mile when directors' bonus payments are factored out."
Meanwhile, Mr Branson who famously let go a hot air balloon sans pilot has
promised that many if not all high speed trains will have a full complement of drivers. |
