Virgin Trains has led the way with numerous rail industry firsts over the last 22 years
BEAM ME UP
From the start, Virgin Trains wanted to keep its customers entertained. The new Pendolino and Super Voyager fleets were delivered with an airline-style on-board entertainment system, allowing customers to plug in headphones and listen to a choice of radio channels during their journey.
Technology moves on quickly, and this was soon replaced by a much more sophisticated onboard offering. Virgin Trains was the first operator to launch a complimentary entertainment service that customers could use through their mobile devices. BEAM offers access to around 200 hours of films and TV episodes as well as magazines and games. Content is updated regularly to keep the offering fresh, and a special section for children ensures younger customers aren’t left out. Onboard Wi-Fi has some limitations, but BEAM bypassed this problem by the content being loaded onto servers hosted on the train, reducing the call on the train’s Wi-Fi bandwith.
Where Virgin Trains led many other operators have followed, taking the example of BEAM and introducing their own entertainment offerings.
WI-FI WIN
Staying connected on the move is now taken as a given by customers.
Virgin Trains was among the first in the rail industry to provide high-speed internet for its customers on the move. Trials aboard a Pendolino train began in 2006 with a system which maintained connectivity throughout customers’ journeys, even in tunnels. On-board Wi-Fi was subsequently rolled out on both Pendolino and Super Voyager fleets across the Virgin Trains network and is now free to use for customers in both First Class and Standard.
