Virgin Voyager (class 220) DEMU at Cheltenham Spa, UK
<br>Now the mainstay for cross-country services, The class 220 and 221 DEMUs are under-specified for the services they run. Apparently Virgin did not anticipate either the general increase in rail passenger numbers which has been experienced on cross-country services since they specified the trains in the late nineties, nor the massive increase in medium-length travel provoked by their own introduction of frequent half-hourly intercity services on the core Bristol/Reading-Birmingham-Manchester/York routes. Previously these routes had been served by infrequent regional services, frequent, but very slow stopping trains, and infrequent cross-country services.
<br>With Virgin trains all-but ceasing cross-country services to nearby Gloucester for the Winter 2003/4 timetable, Cheltenham Spa will become an even more important interchange station between cross-country trains and local services to Gloucester and the surrounding towns. To help alleviate this, Cheltenham Spa will re-gain its half-hourly stopping pattern on Virgin trains with the new timetable.
<p>Photo by Timothy Vince (le_random@yahoo.co.uk)