Press Watch: Passenger growth on Virgin Trains West Coast link benefits transport group Stagecoach

Stagecoach owns a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, which links Liverpool’s Lime Street station with London.

And it revealed the growth in passenger levels has helped drive an 18.7% increase in like-for-like sales on the Virgin franchise in the 12 weeks to July 25.

Rail revenues were also boosted by a trading revival on its two other major commuter routes run by South West Trains and East Midlands Trains, a company update confirmed.

A Stagecoach spokesman said: “The UK rail network in general has seen better revenue trends as a result of the improving eco “But the Virgin franchise has continued to benefit from additional capacity from the high-frequency timetable that came in during 2009.”

He said average fares in the UK went down last year, but sales were boosted by the high level of leisure passengers the West Coast line attracts and “some exceptional deals” available to customers who book tickets in advance.

A significant increase in train punctuality has also helped improve passenger growth after the end of regular disruptive weekend engineering work as part of the West Coast mainline upgrade.

Overall, Stagecoach reported a 7% jump in its rail revenues for the quarter.

Passenger revenues at its bus division also improved by 2% on a like-for-like basis.

In North America, where the company has a fleet of 2,800 coaches, revenues were ahead 6.9% in the three months to the end of July.

Stagecoach, which recently reported a 24% drop in annual profits, said that the positive trends in rail and in North America had continued, although it admitted this was subject to uncertainty.  

It added: “While the effect of the change in the UK Government and the sustainability and pace of economic recovery remain uncertain, we believe that, on balance, the outlook for the group is positive.”