XCTurbostar
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I like that livery (Probably one of the few that do). I also like it how the 'Z' in Azuma is the 'N' in LNER rotated.
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Virgin Trains East Coast franchise to end 24 June 2018 and is temporarily re-nationalised
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swissrailpassion
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Ho Ho and look where the poster is sited - are they very tiny in DUR?
The "losses" were underwritten by the parent companies, so although there's circa £200 million of losses this wouldn't be seen in the back balance add that would read as £0.
The only reason for the losses was due to making excessive payments to the government compared to the income. Given the government is getting so the profit rather than an agreed amount this won't be a problem.
AlexNL
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I don't like that little detail, it looks really tacky as the styling of the rest of the word doesn't really match the Z.
ash39
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It's cringeworthy. Puts me in mind of a 'Turbo' or 'RS' badge you used to see stuck to a 1.0 Vauxhall Corsa back in the day.
Wallsendmag
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I'm aware of that lol
SaveECRewards
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Seems fully functional
http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.uk/Has anyone discovered why they're changing the website ahead of the official switchover? It's always happened on the night of the switchover in the past, and it's always happened fairly quickly.
I remember the last day of East Coast I'd been travelling around the north east. Just after midnight the website had changed to the VTEC branding. There was a lot of bad find and replace (e.g. Virgin Trains East Coast Rewards) which seemed to have been mostly sorted by the morning.
Seems odd that the VTEC site has to go down many hours for the switchover and also it's happening early. Perhaps they're connected? They want to sort out any technical issues with the transfer before the big launch?
Probably the quietest period of the week for bookings.
Wallsendmag
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It's so if anything goes wrong we have support available tomorrow whereas there wouldn't be on Sunday morning.
43096
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LNER cost cutting already?!
Anyone would think that a 24hr business might just have 24hr IT support....
Wallsendmag
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We obviously have on call support but to have everyone from the myriad of suppliers for all the various ancillary systems available on a weekday instantly was a no brainer.
AlexNL
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Why go live during a weekend if you don't have to?
VTEC will be gone after Saturday, I don't think much will be lost if their website is rebranded into LNER style a few days early?
In the nicest possible way, you've clearly never worked for Stagecoach!
43096
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Errrrrr, if the website went live on Sunday it would be LNER’s responsibility, not Stagecoach.
Clearly my post is being taken far too seriously, though....
SaveECRewards
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I think the technology still belongs to Stagecoach. The project DICE was their idea and so presumably LNER will be paying them for support while they continue to use this system.
SaveECRewards
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@Wallsendmag shouldn't the holding page be changed to LNER will be back soon as the VTEC branded website is unlikely to be back? I'm just curious to see the new holding page
Wallsendmag
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No point now 
The losses were only underwritten to a certain limit; I don't know if that's been exceeded.
91109
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Pretty sure Stagecoach absorbed all of the losses incurred.
MisterWhippy
Member
VTEC’s Twitter has already been changed, well the name anyway. The @ handle is still the old Virgin one.
Shame the new site looks very similar to the Virgin one.
Same sort of font family that's been used as Virgin... a bit boring :/
I guess they're going to keep the same uniforms? Not sure if [the uniforms] have the little "Virgin Trains" tag though - that wouldn't work.
I would have gone for a soft launch now, and a full launch with a proper re-brand when they're ready... as the last 4/5/6 months clearly hasn't been enough time.
Same sort of font family that's been used as Virgin... a bit boring :/
I guess they're going to keep the same uniforms? Not sure if [the uniforms] have the little "Virgin Trains" tag though - that wouldn't work.
I would have gone for a soft launch now, and a full launch with a proper re-brand when they're ready... as the last 4/5/6 months clearly hasn't been enough time.
Well, last time I was in DURban, folks looked fairly averagely-sized, to be honest. No sign of any HSTs or 225s, though.
Meanwhile, in DurHaM, the populous seems pretty standard-sized, too.
91109
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The website looks the same because it is. Only thing that has changed is any reference to Virgin. Uniforms are remaining as is for now, and they're doing a launch event on Monday.
They’re back.
SaveECRewards
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Has to have been the most half arsed rebrand ever! When East Coast changed to Virgin Trains East Coast the EC website went down for a few minutes after midnight and then the VTEC website was up and running. It was the same underlying site and booking engine but the fonts and colours used were all different.
The LNER site is identical to the VTEC site (except for the features like Flying Club that have been removed) but the site had to go down multiple hours for the switchover.
They've not even updated the menu pages. The new menu (still James Martin!) goes live on Sunday but the website is still listing the old options.
ash39
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One man's professional is another man's corporate and dull. I personally preferred the life & coloue Virgin managed to bring to the table, even if some of their advertising was a bit odd at times. The Leeds owl in particular!
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