From Global Railway Review; June 11, 2019
Virgin Trains has applied to the rail regulator to run the UK’s most advanced, and customer-focused, train service. The ‘open access’ application, which has been lodged with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), would see a new hourly service through most of the day between Liverpool and London from May 2021.
The new services would be unique in the UK rail industry. Every ticket would be guaranteed to be at least 10 per cent cheaper than equivalent tickets offered by rail competitors. Each ticket would also come with a seat reservation for a particular service, meaning everyone would be guaranteed a seat. The Virgin Trains service would be the only rail service in the UK to guarantee no overcrowding in normal operations. If there was disruption on the rail network and services were busier than normal, any passengers who couldn’t get a seat would get a full refund of their ticket.