Virgin Trains accelerates journeys with eight-minute London-Scotland film

02/08/2017

Speeded up cab footage shows some of most iconic scenes on Britain’s railway
Virgin’s role in accelerating intercity travel celebrated as operator reaches 20th anniversary

Virgin Trains is inviting customers to experience travel between Scotland and London in just eight minutes.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the intercity operator has released speeded-up footage showing the incredible sights viewed from the drivers’ cab on some of its most scenic routes.

On the west coast route between Glasgow and London, these include the dramatic Cumbrian hills and Beattock Summit in Scotland. On the east coast, the Edinburgh-London journey covers the beautiful border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and famous bridges spanning the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead.

Over the past two decades, Virgin has become famous for speeding up intercity journeys on the west coast route, where it accelerated the Glasgow-London journey time from more than five hours to 4hr,29min following introduction of its Virgin High Frequency timetable in 2009.

Virgin took over the east coast route in 2015 and is now planning to bring regular Edinburgh-London journey times to around four hours, every hour, following introduction of its new fleet of state-of-the-art Azuma trains.

Danny Gonzalez, who is now Marketing Director for Virgin Trains on the east coast after previously carrying out this role on the west coast route, said: “Train travel in Britain offers some stunning sights and we’d defy anyone to enjoy the same experience when stuck in motorway traffic or peeking through the tiny windows of a plane. We’re lucky enough to operate two of the most iconic, famous routes in the country. We’d encourage everyone to take the time to see these for themselves - but if you’ve only got a few minutes to spare, these videos offer a beautiful introduction.”

Glasgow to London in under 8 minutes