Virgin Trains in race to realise Barack Obama's high-speed rail system

Source: UK Times
Virgin Trains, which operates the West Coast Main Line in Britain, is bidding for a slice of President Obama's multibillion-dollar upgrade of the American rail network, The Times has learnt.

Virgin is understood to be the only British company involved in the President's plan to build high-speed rail links between key cities on the East and West coasts of the United States. Virgin has been asked to submit a proposal for developing this infrastructure and has held meetings with the new Administration in Washington.

Virgin is keen on the Los Angeles to San Francisco route and also the East Coast line linking Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. There are 30 return airline flights a day between Los Angeles and San Francisco and a high-speed train service could replace many of those, cutting carbon emissions. The journey would take less than three hours and voters in California have already agreed to raise $10 billion to start work on a line that would run from Sacramento, the state capital, to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Moving into America would be Virgin's first venture outside Britain. The company, which is 51 per cent-owned by Stagecoach and 49 per cent by Sir Richard Branson, runs trains between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Virgin was criticised for its poor service when it first won the franchise in 1996, but since the completion of track improvements and the introduction of new trains, it has come to be regarded as a leading operator.
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