Virgin Trains

Virgin Trains West Coast

Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity West Coast 9 March 1997 -2019
Main route(s)	London - Scotland London - North West London - West Midlands London - Chester
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	48
Stations operated	17
National Rail abbreviation	VT
Parent company	Virgin Rail Group Virgin Group (51%) Stagecoach (49%)
Website	www.virgintrains.co.uk

Virgin Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom. They ran trains from London Euston to the North West, West Midlands and Scotland on the West Coast Main Line and trains on the East Coast Main Coast Mainline between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. Before 11 November 2007, they also run trains linking the south and south-west of England with the north of England through Manchester and Scotland, through Birmingham, under the CrossCountry franchise. Although it is branded as part of Virgin Group, Virgin's share in the company is only 51%, with the remaining 49% owned by Stagecoach. Virgin's share in Virgin Trains East Coast is only 10% with 90% being owned by Stagecoach, although the company is also branded under the Virgin name. The East Coast franchise was transferred to London North Eastern Railway in 2019, and the West Coast franchise to Avanti West Coast.

New trains

A Virgin Trains 'Virgin Voyager' train at Banbury railway station in the year 2004.

A new train, to be delivered by December 2018, undergoing testing.

Their first trains, formerly owned by British Rail, were very old and broken down, but were replaced by new trains in 2002 on the West Coast and CrossCountry lines. New trains were built for their East Coast operations.

Gallery

• 
  Virgin Trains 82114 Driving Van Trailer Platform 1 Glasgow Central Station, Scotland July 2000.
• 
  Virgin Trains, Class 221 SuperVoyager, 221109 "Marco Polo" at Chester station.
• 
  A Virgin trains Mk2 coach at Banbury in 2001. All of Virgin's old slam door stock was scraped in 2003, after safety issues on such carriages. Most are now in private collections or scrapped.
• 
  A Class 220 Voyager at Bristol.
• 
  A picture of a Virgin Trains' MK 3 carriage at Crewe station in the year 2000. It is in its former Inter City livery. Most are now either renovated or scrapped. They were too old to use.
• 
  Class 87 electric locomotive and Mark 3 coaches franchised by Virgin Trains, now in use elsewhere.
• 
  The interior of Standard Class aboard a Class 390 Pendolino.
• 
  The interior of First Class aboard a 390 Pendolino.
• 
  The complimentary breakfast was served to passengers in First Class aboard the Class 390 Pendolino trains before the improved service was launched in January 2009.
• 
  Virgin Trains East Coast InterCity 125 interior

Related pages

• Megatrain
• National Rail

Other websites

• Department for Transport Archived 2010-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
• Virgin Trains Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine

Preceded by InterCity' As part of British Rail	Operator of Cross-Country franchise 1997 — 2007	Succeeded by CrossCountry
	Operator of InterCity West Coast franchise 1997 — 2017	Incumbent
Preceded by East Coast (train operating company)	Operator of InterCity East Coast franchise 2015 — 2018	Succeeded by London North Eastern Railway