Virgin Trains First Class customers can now use an exclusive new lounge at Birmingham International station.

Opened today (30 April) it has seating for more than 40, providing a quiet refuge for business travellers. Free wireless internet will be available shortly for those who need to catch up on work and emails, and there is a self-service facility with hot and cold drinks and light snacks.

Virgin Trains station manager Anne Grant said: "We have a high quality train service, using state-of-the-art tilting Pendolino trains from Birmingham International to London, and now we have a high quality station facility to complement the trains.

“We are confident that the improved facilities at the station will encourage more environmentally-conscious motorists to ditch the car and take the train."

BBC Radio WM presenter Les Ross – a regular traveller at the station and there to open the lounge - added: “It provides the business traveller with the same level of facilities that are provided at the other key West Midlands stations of Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street and Coventry.”

Virgin Trains operates 34 trains each way on weekdays on the Birmingham-London route, but from 2009 this will increase to more than 50, providing more than 1.5m extra seats. Average journey time to the capital will be 1hr12mins.

The improvements to the station mark the first stage of an investment package which will see work start later this year on increasing parking capacity by 835 spaces to 2,225. Alternative parking will be available next to the existing car park whilst the work takes place.