Virgin Trains comes out fighting for open access rights | Ep 76

Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains fights hard to return to the West Coast Main Line with an appeal to the Office of Rail and Road over available capacity

We ask how many public officials does it take to have a meeting about railway projects these days?

And a new Northumberland Line station – Newsham opens

In this episode:

00:00 Intro
00:40 Virgin Trains open access fight
31:50 How many officials does it take to have a railway meeting?
34:55 Thanks to Supporters, Super Thanks and Members
36:15 Railway News Round-Up
36:19 Northumberland Line Newsham station opens
37:06 RMT calls off Avanti West Coast strikes
37:49 HS2 TBM lifted out of Green Park Way site
38:58 HS2 A43 bridge progress
39:50 LNER named top of the TOCs
41:17 The Quiz
45:59 Furness Railway No. 20 to visit The Greatest Gathering

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Credits:
Presenters - Nigel Harris (@railnigel on X) & Richard Bowker CBE (@SRichardBowker). General Manager: Stef Foster (@stefatrail)

Image Credits (unless stated on images):

- Picture of people sat round boardroom table - Jacob Lund / Shutterstock.com
- Drone image of Newsham railway station - Northern Trains Ltd
- Letter to ORR from Network Rail re West Coast South timetable issues (published by ORR on 14th March 2025)
- Film of LNER Azuma speeding passed Essendine - Nigel Harris
- Film of Class 91 set departing Peterborough northbound - Richard Bowker