Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains

Virgin Pendolino 390045 set heads from Glasgow to Euston in the Upper Clyde Valley
Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity West Coast 9 March 1997 – 7 December 2019
Main route(s)	London–Glasgow and Edinburgh London–Liverpool London–West Midlands London–Chester London–Manchester
Other route(s)	London–Holyhead London–Shrewsbury London–Wrexham London–Blackpool
Fleet size	56 Class 390 Pendolino sets 20 Class 221 Super Voyager sets
Stations called at	46
Stations operated	15
Parent company	Virgin Rail Group Virgin Group (51%) Stagecoach (49%)
Reporting mark	VT
Predecessor	InterCity
Successor	Avanti West Coast

Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited)^[1] 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 the UK's largest cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh, which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million. Virgin Trains had around 3,400 employees in 2015.^[2]

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 the franchise after its joint venture partner, Stagecoach, was disqualified due to an invalid bid in April 2019.^[3]