VIRGIN Trains says the WiFi on its trains is about to get much better.
The train operator has announced that all 56 of its West Coast route Pendolino trains are having a refit, which will vastly improve the on-board equipment, and allow free WiFi to be extended to all customers.
The £7.5m investment is part of a new deal agreed with the government, which will see Virgin Trains continue to run the West Coast franchise through to at least the end of March 2019, with the option for up to a further one-year extension at the Department for Transport’s discretion.
Installation of the WiFi upgrade is planned to begin on the Pendolino fleet from this May, with the work expected to be completed by January 2019.
It says the new technology is ‘future-proofed’ so it will work with 5G mobile phone networks as they come on stream and offer further speed improvements.
Phil Whittingham, managing director of Virgin Trains on the West Coast said: “Virgin Trains has led the industry for more than two decades, and I’m delighted that we have secured a new contract to continue operating on the West Coast. The investment will see a big improvement in our on-board WiFi, and follows our industry-leading innovations such as automatic delay-repay and free films and TV on board via our Beam app.
“I’m pleased that we’ll be able to offer almost all of our customers access to the improved WiFi for free. We know WiFi is a top priority for our customers and I’m sure they’ll welcome the upgrades to both speed and availability.”
In addition to the WiFi improvements on board, the train operator will also investigate eliminating ‘not-spots’, or places without mobile phone coverage, on parts of its network. The route taken by the west coast mainline sees a large number of these ‘not-spots’ as trains pass through cuttings and tunnels, and where there is no mobile phone coverage there is also no WiFi available.
The new contract will also see all station ticket machines upgraded to accept contactless payment, more information and other improvements such as additional seating at stations and improved toilets, lighting and carpets on board.
There will also be new apprenticeship opportunities, including for train driver roles.
