Megatrain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Megatrain is a budget virtual train service operated by the UK transport group Stagecoach. The concept was piloted on Stagecoach's South West Trains , on the London-Portsmouth and London-Southampton routes. The trains continue to be operated as standard timetabled services by South West Trains but with designated areas for Megatrain customers.
Megatrain offers seats through a dedicated website and telephone hotline, with cheaper fares available the earlier customers book. It follows the success of Megabus, a low-cost inter-city coach service with a national network covering 35 UK cities.
The service was launched on 1 November 2005 for trains to start running on 14 November 2005. Tickets start at £1 and can go up to around £10 (about an hour before the train leaves the initial station). According to The Times on 15 November 2005, a special Megatrain carriage has been set aside to avoid the mixing of Megatrain and non-Megatrain passengers. The article goes on to state, however, that there is nothing to stop those paying ordinary fares sitting in the Megatrain carriage, as the signage only instructs Megatrain passengers on where to sit - not the normal fare ones.
From 22 April 2006 the scheme was expanded to provide cheap rail travel from on South West Trains services from London to Bristol Temple Meads, Bath, Exeter, Yeovil, Bournemouth, Weymouth and Salisbury in addition to the Southampton and Portsmouth services.
The service is now available on the following Virgin Trains (which is 49% owned by Stagecoach) services as well: Penzance - Bristol Temple Meads, Bournemouth - Birmingham, Manchester - Glasgow/Edinburgh and Morpeth - Edinburgh. Tickets are also available from some intermediate stops on these routes.
[edit] External links
 |
This United Kingdom railway-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
