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Virgin Rail starts operation of Britain’s East Coast Main Line
There’s been quite a lot of adverse comment about this here. East Coast was actually making money (for the government) and running very well, thank you (after the previous private franchise had messed it up and effectively handed the routes back), but the set-up is/was ideologically unacceptable to the Conservatives who were anxious to bury this inconvenient ‘anomaly’ and re-franchise before the General Election in May. We shall see what happens - hopefully (with Virgin being very much a minor partner in the franchise) there will be no more cramped Pendilinos and doubly cramped Voyageurs (both suffering from narrow bodies because of the tilt facility, which leads to a wretchedly inadequate overhead storage space). The Mk3s and even the refurbished IC125 sets currently on the ECML and far more comfortable despite their age.