RAIL enthusiasts have expressed dissatisfaction at the reliability and overcrowding of Virgin trains on the West Coast Main Line.

They voiced their complaints at a public meeting organised by the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society at the Royal Hotel, Carnforth, which was addressed by Brian Bromley, the deputy regional manager of Virgin trains.

He guaranteed that services would become more reliable once the Pendolino a high-speed tilting train was running on the line in the local area from September, 2004.

Mr Bromley said other plans included the improvement of stations with Internet booking machines to make them more user-friendly' and travel games on the trains to make them more comfortable.

A member of the public branded the proposals as "criminal" and added: "In my opinion instead of spending money on knick-knack modernisation, put on a guaranteed service from A to B and most people will be happy with that."

Society member Peter Robinson said revised timetables introduced in September 2002 created much dissatisfaction among rail users in the area. He conceded that there were more services but claimed trains had fewer carriages, causing overcrowding.

He branded the train service "unreliable" and said it had come to the stage where he no longer travelled by train. "It is an absolutely disgraceful way to run a railway and I advocate more passenger action," he said.

Ken Broadhurst, membership secretary of Carnforth Station Trust, said splitting the trains and making them smaller had "been a disaster."

Concerns were also raised over connecting trains leaving the platform at Oxenholme before the other train had arrived.

Virgin took action on this issue the very next day when a train was held at Oxenholme station to wait for the London train, which was running late, so that people would not miss their connection.

Mr Bromley said: "There are quite a lot of problems on the West Coast Main Line, and time-keeping needs addressing, but we are working with Network Rail (the successor to Railtrack) to try to alleviate them."

l An additional car park has been proposed for Oxenholme Station as part of Virgin Trains modernisation of the West Coast Main Line.

The secure car park is planned for platform two and three to help alleviate congestion of the current car park, members of the Railway Correspondents and Travel Society heard at a public meeting in Carnforth on Friday. Funding for the project will be confirmed by April.

January 10, 2003 14:30