80-939: Virgin Trains ( VT ) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited ) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group , a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach , which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 9 March 1997 to 7 December 2019. The franchise covered long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands , North West England , North Wales and southern Scotland , consequently connecting six of
160-660: A 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western . Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains . Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach . The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express , an open-access operator outside
240-649: A 50% holding, Virgin with 30% and the French national railway operator SNCF holding 20%. In April 2019 Stagecoach revealed that it had been disqualified from the franchises it was bidding for following a dispute with the DfT over pension liabilities. The disqualification occurred after the bidding deadline and as a result Virgin Trains would cease operations in March 2020. In August 2019, the First Trenitalia consortium
320-571: A company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority , which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses. A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by
400-471: A fleet of Class 86 , Class 87 and Class 90s hauling Mark 2 and Mark 3 carriages with Driving Van Trailers on its electrified services and High Speed Trains for London Euston to Holyhead services. A franchise commitment was the replacement of these trains with new tilting stock. In 1999 Virgin signed a deal to lease forty-four eight-carriage and nine nine-carriage Class 390 Pendolinos built by Alstom . An option to extend all to nine carriages
480-459: A government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on the rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or a national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by
560-500: A number of radio or pre-recorded music channels. This was disabled in March 2010 and replaced with on-board Wi-Fi provided by EE . The service was available free in first class, and for a charge (which varied depending on how long the passenger wished to use it for) in standard class. On 15 September 2015 it was announced that Virgin Trains were to rename Pendolino 390002 in memory of teenage fundraiser Stephen Sutton . Former units operated by Virgin Trains include: The Class 390 fleet
640-464: A programme to rearrange the Class 221 Super Voyagers with the carriage containing the shop moved to adjoin the first class carriage and refurbished with 2+2 seats arranged more spaciously around tables. This allowed it to be used as a first class carriage on Holyhead services and as a standard class carriage at other times. In December 2010 one four-carriage Class 221 Super Voyager was disbanded with
720-466: A result, the top speed was reduced to 125 mph. Virgin Trains' franchise was originally due to expire in March 2012. During mid 2009, Virgin founder Richard Branson launched a campaign to have the next franchise period extended for 20 to 30 years, so that Virgin could spend more on infrastructure and see a return on its investment. Branson said the journey time between London and Birmingham could be reduced by 22 minutes to under one hour. This approach
800-583: A separate Ministry of Aviation was formed. Transport responsibilities were subsumed by the Department for the Environment, headed by the secretary of state for the environment from 15 October 1970 to 10 September 1976. The Department for Transport was recreated as a separate department by James Callaghan in 1976. The super-department Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
880-425: A specified duration, while a small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for the duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by
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#1732794425630960-434: A two-year deal. Darlington Football Club were also sponsored by Virgin Trains, and the company has also sponsored events such as Manchester International Festival in 2013. In July 2016 the integrated infotainment system BEAM was provided on all trains by GoMedia , delivered directly to the passenger's own devices including mobile phones and tablets. The system has been described as 'the first in-train entertainment portal in
1040-765: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
1120-558: The High Speed Trains were withdrawn with services being operated by a combination of five-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers hired from Virgin CrossCountry and Class 47 and Class 90 hauled Mark 3 sets. From September 2005 Class 57/3s hauling Class 390 Pendolinos took over the locomotive hauled diagrams. This continued until December 2008 when five-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers took over all services, with
1200-676: The InterCity East Coast franchise. Secretary of State for Transport King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The secretary of state for transport , also referred to as
1280-733: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets the Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground , a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly
1360-955: The Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 , which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann , the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
1440-736: The North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise . In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. In the same year, Thames Trains
1520-642: The Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017, the responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside ,
1600-572: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year. Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners. In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating
1680-791: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
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#17327944256301760-431: The railway system of Great Britain , a train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by the Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for
1840-513: The transport secretary , is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom , with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport . The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom . The office holder works alongside the other transport ministers . The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for transport , and
1920-630: The Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of a national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons
2000-565: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender: The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels . The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts . The Great Western Holdings ' management also were awarded
2080-473: The CrossCountry franchise to the InterCity West Coast franchise. In December 2008, a Wrexham General to London Euston service was introduced, operating south in the morning with an evening return. In February 2009, an hourly London Euston to Chester service was introduced. From January 2009, Virgin Trains gradually rolled out a new "very high frequency" timetable to take advantage of
2160-557: The DfT Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority . The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail , which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies (ROSCO) and are leased to
2240-659: The East Coast franchise. In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone . In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern . The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
2320-499: The InterCity West Coast franchise for a further 9 to 13 months. In December 2012, Virgin was awarded a 23-month management contract to run the franchise until 9 November 2014. In March 2013, the Secretary of State announced that the franchise would again be extended until 31 March 2017. During May 2013, there was a controversy regarding new uniforms, with claims that the blouses were too revealing and potentially exposed dark bras to
2400-642: The Mark 3 set. This received re-upholstered seating, power points, Wi-Fi and a full external re-paint at Wabtec , Doncaster in 2009. Virgin used this set with a Class 90 locomotive hired from Freightliner on a Euston to Crewe (via Birmingham) service on Fridays only until December 2012. From 9 December 2013 it was utilised to operate a London Euston-Birmingham New Street train on Thursdays and Fridays only, until its withdrawal in October 2014. All seats on Class 221 Super Voyagers and Class 390 Pendolinos originally had an on-board audio entertainment system featuring
2480-587: The North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators: In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name. Great Western Holdings , which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became
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2560-582: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by ScotRail , and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales , are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations. The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises
2640-667: The UK'. It offered premium movies from Hollywood studios, BBC Worldwide etc. As a way of protecting the revenues of Virgin Trains to enable it to pay franchise premiums to the government to partly recoup the cost of the West Coast Main Line upgrade, the Office of Rail Regulation inserted a Moderation of Competition in Virgin's Track Access Agreement. Until its expiry in March 2012, this prevented any other train operating or open access companies operating services in competition that would abstract revenue. Train operating company In
2720-732: The UK's largest cities: London, Birmingham , Manchester , Liverpool , Glasgow and Edinburgh , which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million. It had around 3,400 employees in 2015. The Virgin Trains brand was also used on the legally and operationally separate Virgin Trains East Coast from 2015 until 2018, and previously on Virgin CrossCountry , which operated between 1997 and 2007, as well as from 2018 to 2020 by Virgin Trains USA in Florida . The contract expired on 7 December 2019 (having been originally scheduled for expiry in March 2020) and Virgin did not contest losing
2800-471: The common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises. The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways , who are a subsidiary of Translink , the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs
2880-553: The completed West Coast Main Line upgrade. There were timetable changes from 8 December 2013. Trains between Edinburgh/Glasgow and London would call at Sandwell & Dudley, replacing the hourly Wolverhampton to Euston service. In addition most Liverpool services additionally called at Crewe. Virgin Trains suffered poor punctuality compared with some other transport operators between 2001 and 2006, according to Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Punctuality did gradually improve until
2960-561: The decision had been lawful. In August 2019, it was announced that the Inter-City West Coast franchise had been awarded to Avanti West Coast , thus confirming that Virgin Trains would cease to operate trains after 7 December 2019. The final Virgin Trains service was the 21:42 service from London Euston to Wolverhampton arriving at 23:45. In May 1998, Virgin introduced two new services from London Euston , to Shrewsbury and to Blackpool North . The former ceased in 1999,
3040-799: The exception of a Saturdays only Pendolino hauled by a Class 57/3 Locomotive (1D83 08:50 EUS-HHD/1A55 14:38 HHD-EUS). This ceased operation on Saturday 8 December 2012. With the Class 390 Pendolinos needing modification in 2006, a First GBRf Class 87 was hired to haul a Mark 3 set on Birmingham New Street services. To operate the Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh and Glasgow services transferred from CrossCountry in December 2007, three four-carriage and thirteen five-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers were transferred. A further five five-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers followed in December 2008. In August 2008 Bombardier started
3120-708: The first delivered in June 2002. After it was decided they would operate daily services along the North Wales Coast to Holyhead , another four were ordered from Porterbrook. Following the completion of the West Coast Main Line upgrade in 2008 their use fell and after being sublet to Arriva Trains Wales , Colas Rail and First GBRf , six were returned to Porterbrook in August 2011, three in April 2012 and
3200-727: The franchise after its joint venture partner, Stagecoach, was disqualified due to an invalid bid in April 2019. Amid the privatisation of British Rail during the mid 1990s, the newly-formed Virgin Rail Group submitted multiple bids to operate several different train franchises, including Gatwick Express , InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast . It was successful in winning the latter two, leading to Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast (commonly referred to as Virgin Trains ) commencing operations in January and March 1997 respectively. One of Virgin's franchise commitments
3280-494: The franchise would be replaced by a new franchise named the West Coast Partnership , which will include operating High Speed 2 (HS2). Services are planned to begin on the first phase of HS2 in 2026. The Department for Transport requires that the new operator have experience in operating high-speed trains (155 mph (249 km/h)) and infrastructure. The bid for the new franchise was led by Stagecoach holding
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3360-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year. Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
3440-549: The franchise. In May 2011, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that the end date had been postponed to allow the recommendations in the McNulty Report to be absorbed. In October 2011, the Department announced that Virgin had been granted a franchise extension until December 2012. An Invitation to tender was issued to the shortlisted bidders in January 2012, and the Department for Transport awarded FirstGroup
3520-401: The franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023. The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers. MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in
3600-408: The government was cancelling the franchise competition for the InterCity West Coast franchise after discovering significant technical flaws in the way the franchise process was conducted, reversing the decision to award it to FirstGroup. Following an independent review of the franchising process, a fresh competition would be held. The government announced that it would negotiate with Virgin Trains to run
3680-567: The individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations , in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease the buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of
3760-420: The introduction of a new timetable (in December 2008), following the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line, which resulted in a dip in performance. Performance subsequently recovered and peaked during 2010–11, but then fell again and reached a new low for the year ending 31 March 2013 of 83.6% (MAA). The PPM MAA ( Public performance measure Moving Annual Average - % of trains arriving within 10 minutes of
3840-520: The latter in May 2003. In December 2014, a daily weekday service between London Euston and Blackpool North and a twice daily service between London Euston and Shrewsbury were reintroduced. This was increased to four trains per day in the May 2018 timetable. On 23 July 2002, the first elements of the new fleet of Pendolino tilting trains were introduced into passenger services from Birmingham International to Manchester Piccadilly , intentionally coinciding with
3920-614: The name Wales & Borders . The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains . John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains. Connex , having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains ,
4000-417: The new franchise in August 2012. Virgin spoke out against this decision, claiming that the methodology used to award the franchise was flawed, while Richard Branson stated that it was unlikely Virgin would bid for any future franchises. When the DfT did not directly respond to Virgin's concerns, the operator launched proceedings for a judicial review . During October 2012, the Secretary of State announced that
4080-589: The opening of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. In September 2004, a London Euston to Llandudno service was introduced, but it ceased in December 2008. In September 2005, Virgin introduced its first 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) timetable following the completion of Stage 1 of the upgrade. In December 2007, as part of a reshuffle of rail franchises by the Department for Transport , services from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central via Crewe were transferred from
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#17327944256304160-448: The public. Virgin Rail Group responded to this by offering a voucher worth £20 to allow employees to purchase a top to wear underneath the new blouses. In July 2013, the Office of Rail Regulation rejected an application by Virgin Trains to operate new services to Shrewsbury and Blackpool North , citing capacity constraints on the West Coast Main Line. In November 2013, a revised application for services to Shrewsbury and Blackpool North
4240-404: The purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel , and Heathrow Express , which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport . A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with
4320-716: The railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of the overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
4400-614: The railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by
4480-482: The remaining 21 sets but this was allowed to lapse. The four new sets were delivered in 2010/12 with 31 sets later receiving extra carriages. This required a number of stations to have platforms lengthened. Following the loss of a Class 390 Pendolino in the Grayrigg derailment , a Mark 3 set with a Driving Van Trailer was leased with a Class 90 hired from English Welsh & Scottish as required. In 2008 Virgin looked at leasing two Class 180 but decided to retain
4560-400: The remaining seven in December 2012. Virgin had long been angling for a franchise extension in return for ordering extra carriages for the Class 390 Pendolinos . The Department for Transport rejected this and instead placed an order itself with Alstom for 106 carriages allowing for four complete eleven-carriage sets and 31 sets to be extended by two carriages. There was an option to extend
4640-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over
4720-476: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator. In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn , becoming part of the DB Regio Group. In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with
4800-401: The same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street . The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
4880-467: The scheduled times) figures for Virgin Trains are as follows: Latest figures published by Network Rail for the seventh period of 2013-2014 recorded PPM of 92.2% for the period and a MAA of 83.5% for the 12 months up to 12 October 2013. The PPM performance for the period is down 2.7 percentage points on the corresponding figure from the same period last year. Network Rail noted that Virgin Trains were only responsible for 16% of delays in period 5. Network Rail
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#17327944256304960-409: The secretary of state is also scrutinised by the Transport Select Committee . The current secretary of state for transport is Louise Haigh , who was appointed under Keir Starmer following Labour 's victory in the 2024 general election . The Ministry of Transport absorbed the Ministry of Shipping and was renamed the Ministry of War Transport in 1941, but resumed its previous name at the end of
5040-410: The south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia , who began operating it under the name South Central . Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West . The new franchise was initially operated under
5120-449: The two centre carriages being inserted into the other four-carriage sets to give Virgin a fleet of twenty five-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers . The two end carriages are stored at Central Rivers depot. To provide it with a fleet of locomotives for use on diversionary services during the West Coast Mainline upgrade and rescue duties, Virgin signed a deal with Porterbrook in March 2002 to rebuild twelve Class 47s as Class 57/3s with
5200-449: The war. The Ministry of Civil Aviation was created by Winston Churchill in 1944 to look at peaceful ways of using aircraft and to find something for the aircraft factories to do after the war. The new Conservative government in 1951 appointed the same minister to both Transport and Civil Aviation, finally amalgamating the ministries on 1 October 1953. The Ministry was renamed back to the Ministry of Transport on 14 October 1959, when
5280-505: The year), Valley Lines Trains , Wales & West , and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern. The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains , commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull . In 2001, Connex , which had operated two franchises in
5360-423: Was allocated to the Alstom Traincare Centre at Longsight with lighter maintenance and overnight servicing carried out at Wembley , Oxley , Edge Hill and Polmadie depots. The Class 221 fleet was allocated to Bombardier's Central Rivers depot with lighter maintenance and overnight servicing carried out at Arriva TrainCare , Crewe , Holyhead and Polmadie . In November 2016, the government announced that
5440-402: Was announced that Virgin Trains had been granted a one-year extension until March 2020. In April 2019, Stagecoach revealed that it had been disqualified from the franchises it was bidding for, including the West Coast Partnership. One month later, the company announced that it would mount a legal challenge to its disqualification. On 17 June 2020, the High Court ruled against the company and that
5520-421: Was approved, and the services started in December 2014. During November 2016, the franchise was further extended until March 2019. In February 2018, the contract was yet again extended until March 2019, with an option to extend it further to March 2020. In March 2018, it was announced that the contract would end in September 2019 when the new West Coast Partnership franchise would commence. In December 2018, it
5600-436: Was awarded the West Coast Partnership contract, with Avanti West Coast commencing in December 2019, thus ending Virgin Trains services after 22 years. Virgin Trains were Carlisle United F.C. 's travel sponsor for the 2013–14 season, and for the 2014–15 season they are the club's main shirt sponsor agreeing a further two-year deal. On 5 August 2014 Virgin Trains also agreed to be the shirt sponsor of Preston North End F.C. on
5680-403: Was better. Virgin has undertaken a number of projects to increase punctuality, including radio-controlled watches. On 23 February 2007, a Class 390 Pendolino "City of Glasgow" forming the 17:15 London Euston to Glasgow Central service derailed in the village of Grayrigg in Cumbria. The train was carrying 109 people. Several carriages were left lying on the railway embankments. An elderly woman
5760-1106: Was created in 1997 for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott . In 2001, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions was widely considered unwieldy and so was broken up, with the Transport functions now combined with Local Government and the Regions in the DTLR ( Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions ). Colour key (for political parties): Conservative Labour National Labour Liberal National Liberal Colour key (for political parties): Conservative Labour National Liberal Colour key (for political parties): Conservative Colour key (for political parties): Conservative Labour Colour key (for political parties): Conservative Labour The junior ministers responsible for transport within
5840-513: Was enacted in 2002. The first entered service in January 2003. With the exception of services to Holyhead , the final locomotive hauled trains were withdrawn in June 2005. To operate the Holyhead services four four-carriage Class 221 Super Voyagers were included in the order placed by Virgin CrossCountry . By the time they were delivered it was decided these would be too short so they entered service with Virgin CrossCountry. In September 2004
5920-402: Was itself directly responsible for 50% of Virgin Trains' delays, 20% were a result of external factors (e.g. fatalities) and the final 14% were due to other operators. Chris Green as chief executive led a drive to improve reliability and punctuality after much press criticism in 2001, and by 2006, due to improved reliability of trains and completion of major infrastructure projects, performance
6000-427: Was killed in the derailment. Five people were seriously injured. The accident was caused by a faulty set of points and Network Rail accepted full responsibility. The train itself was widely praised for the way it retained its structural integrity. Branson also praised the driver for attempting to stop the train and not leaving the cab before it derailed. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Virgin inherited
6080-497: Was slowed by spiralling costs, rising from an estimated £2 billion to roughly £10 billion, while the programme had failures that were technical as well as managerial, such as the moving block signalling apparatus being immature for such a busy mixed-traffic mainline. Railtrack would ultimately collapse while its successor, Network Rail , would also be unable to fully deliver the promised upgrade, heavily impacting Virgin West Coast's operations. The upgrade programme would be cut back, as
6160-496: Was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail . A new operator, Heathrow Connect , jointly run by BAA and First Great Western , began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express. Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
6240-632: Was the South Western franchise ; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand. In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
6320-595: Was to replace the British Rail -era locomotives and rolling stock inherited by Virgin West Coast with brand new tilting trains .. It was expected that the Pendolinos would run at service speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) and that the whole fleet would be delivered by May 2002. In order for tilting trains to be operated, Railtrack had committed itself to upgrading the West Coast Main Line as to permit 140 mph operation by 2005. The line's modernisation
6400-458: Was turned down by the Department for Transport . Virgin proceeded to apply for a two-year extension, but this was also ruled out by the Department of Transport on legal grounds. In January 2011, the Department for Transport called for expressions of interest in bidding for the next InterCity West Coast franchise. In March 2011, the Department announced that Abellio , FirstGroup , Keolis / SNCF and Virgin Rail Group had been shortlisted to bid for
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