For those who look back with rose-tinted spectacles, there was a time when Virgin Trains operated on the West Coast main line. Well, it seems they want to again – as an open-access operator.
The Return of Virgin Trains? Class 390 Pendolino in Virgin Trains colours – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The group has started the process towards bringing Virgin back to the railways, applying to the Office of Rail and Road for four Open Access rail paths.
Under this type of license, Virgin would not receive any state subsidies and assumes the risk of running a rail service itself. In contrast, a franchised operator holds a contract with the government to run the route.
The routes applied for – running in both directions – are as follows:
- London Euston
- Nuneaton
- Stoke on Trent
- Stockport
- Manchester Piccadilly
Then either:
- Manchester Victoria
- Rochdale (endpoint)
Or:
- Bolton
- Horwich
- Chorley
- Preston (endpoint)
- London Euston
- Tamworth
- Lichfield Trent Valley
- Runcorn
- Liverpool South Parkway
- Liverpool Lime Street
- London Euston
- Coventry
- Birmingham International
- Birmingham New Street
- London Euston
- Golborne
- Preston
- Carlisle
- Motherwell
- Lockerbie
- Glasgow Central.
The application has not identified rolling stock to support this operation nor
In Quotes
Josh Bayliss, CEO of the Virgin Group, says:
“Virgin has submitted an application to the Office of Rail and Road for four Open Access rail paths. Whilst this application is just the first step towards bringing Virgin back to the rail network, we think Open Access is the way forward. Open Access increases consumer choice and competition both of which Virgin has always supported.
“Virgin is exceptionally proud of everything Virgin Trains and its wonderful onboard teams achieved in the UK. In the 20 years Virgin Trains operated on the West Coast, they reduced journey times considerably, tripled services on key routes and provided an exceptional customer experience while increasing passenger numbers from 8 million to 42 million per year. The team won many awards for service and was incredibly popular with the British public. We’re confident customers would welcome Virgin Trains back, providing them with much-needed choice and competition.”
The Competition for the West Coast Hots Up.
I’ve covered Lumo’s and SLC/Alstom’s applications, as well as Grand Union Trains plans to serve between Stirling and London. It only appears that paths for access on the West Coast Main Line are only heating up, with three companies in contention for the precious spare paths to and from London, and how they wish to use them.
It seems the moratorium of competition on the West Coast Main Line is long gone, with Avanti West Coast having to compete against other operators for routes and services.
Virgin Trains operated the West Coast franchise between March 1997 and December 2019 in partnership with The Stagecoach Group. It seems this time, they’re going it alone to provide the train services.
However…
Those who were watching a certain prime minister getting soaked in the rain yesterday will note the UK is about to go into a General Election period – which could mean a change of government as well as priorities.
And yes, rail is in that mix too, with one of the political parties wishing to renationalise the network. How that will impact Open Access operators has yet to be disclosed in any policy or manifestos.
They will be keeping more than a close eye on the next six weeks.
Image – Economy Class and Beyond
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