UK: Airline-Style 'Premium Economy' Service on Train

[John Ashworth]

Train Firm Starts Airline-Style Service

Sky News
3:12pm UK, Monday September 05, 2011

A train company has followed airlines by launching a 'premium economy' class in a bid to attract more business customers.

Chiltern Railways started the service while introducing faster trains between the UK's two biggest cities.

The journey time between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street stations now stands at 90 minutes, following months of engineering works.

Called Mainline, the upgrade means trains can travel at up to 100mph - cutting the journey time from 1 hour 58 minutes.

Chiltern chose the timing of the faster journey times to bring in its premium economy carriage - known as the Business Zone - on its London-Birmingham trains.

The 30-seat carriage will cost passengers £40 extra for a return journey - on top of the £75 standard peak fare - with passengers having to pay for food and drink on top.

For their potential outlay of £115, they get wider seats than in standard class and wireless internet connections.

Chiltern Railways chairman Adrian Shooter said: "Chiltern Mainline is the result of the largest private investment in passenger rail infrastructure in over 80 years.

"It has been created in response to the needs of business travellers and commuters travelling between our first and second cities and we have been working to ensure Mainline allows them to become more efficient and productive."

The cuts in journey times also benefit travellers along the line's route.

Other examples include 1 hour 22 minutes between Solihull and London Marylebone, down from 1 hour 51 minutes, and 1 hour 10 minutes between Warwick Parkway and London Marylebone, down from 1 hour 35 minutes.

But the pressure group Passenger Focus gave the 'premium economy' service a cautious response.

A spokesperson said: "Passengers want more choice when it comes to using the train, so this new product will give them more options when travelling between the UK’s two largest cities.

"However, we will be monitoring the impact this has on crowding in the rest of the train.

"It will be interesting to find out how passengers react to and use ‘premium economy’."