Virgin Trains has responded to growing customer demand by introducing an additional London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly train on Thursday evenings. Off-peak ticket holders will be able to use the new service, which will leave London Euston at 18:57, starting this Thursday 07 July.

The company had already acted last December to provide extra capacity on the route by introducing the 18:57 as a Friday evening train.

All seats on the new Thursday train will be Standard, with First Class accommodation fully de-classified. It will run to the same schedule as the Friday train, leaving London Euston at 18:57, calling at Crewe at 20:33 and arriving at Manchester Piccadilly at 21:17.

Virgin Trains’ Chief Operating Officer Chris Gibb said: “The number of journeys on Virgin Trains has more than doubled in six years - from 14 million in 2004 to over 28 million. The additional train on Fridays has had a very positive effect in reducing crowding. Increasingly we are now seeing similar issues on Thursdays, so we have moved to provide extra seats on that day too.”

The new service will initially not be shown in timetables or reservation databases but will be loaded into industry systems at the earliest possible opportunity.

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