VIRGIN has threatened to cancel or curtail nearly a quarter of its trains on one of Britain's busiest railway lines in a dispute over upgrading of the route.
The train operator has warned of severe overcrowding on the west coast main line this summer if Network Rail refuses to change its proposals.
The move follows Network Rail's intention to close sections of the Glasgow-London route over almost every
weekend from May to the end of the year, as The Scotsman revealed on Saturday.
Virgin wants to put back the completion of the work from December to May next year.
The firm said it would have to withdraw 43 of its 249 daily services and terminate 16 others short of their destinations between June and August to enable drivers to familiarise themselves with changes to the 400-mile route. These include signals being moved and new tracks.
Virgin said 2.5 million passengers would be affected, with "inevitable severe overcrowding on many trains". These could include cross-Border services, which would run normally.
Network Rail's revised plans for completing the £8.6 billion project for faster and more frequent trains on the line follows its record £14 million fine for a four-day over-run on previous work at the new year.
Virgin said it has no other option to complete vital driver training. It said a driver had already gone through a red light on an upgraded section of the line.
However, Virgin said this could be avoided if completion of the scheme was postponed from December to May 2009.
It said Network Rail's plans would cause "a very high level of disruption for our customers", which would extend to weekdays as well as weekends.
Passenger Focus, the official watchdog, has already expressed concern at the extent of the disruption proposed.
Robert Samson, its Scotland manager, said: "Passengers have experienced years of delay on the west coast main line through engineering work, and we look forward to when they can enjoy massively improved services."
Network Rail declined to comment before consultation on its plans ends tomorrow.
The full article contains 356 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
