SIR Richard Branson's high-speed Virgin trains will be speeding across the countryside within weeks - but not in Britain.

The 125mph diesel trains are being built in historic Brugge - and will first take to the tracks in Belgium.

This is the start of a long process of testing before the trains come to Britain - in summer 2001.

Virgin admit the ageing trains they inherited to run the CrossCountry inter-city franchise are far from ideal.

But they are confident the new trains will herald an age of high-speed reliability - and transform the CrossCountry service.

The good news for commuters is that when they are eventually in service journey times will be cut by up to 21 per cent. Manchester to Birmingham will take one hour 23 minutes - with 21 minutes clipped off the current time.

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