Why did Virgin Trains East Coast fail?
The franchise to run services on the East Coast Main Line failed because VTEC – a partnership between Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin (10%) – ran out of money after failing to hit “over-optimistic” revenue targets, MPs concluded.
What is Virgin Trains now called?
Virgin Trains, which began serving the West Coast Main Line in 1997, is being replaced by Avanti West Coast. Almost 500 million journeys have been made with Virgin Trains, which is co-owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Stagecoach.
Is Virgin Trains still running?
Launched in 1997, Virgin Trains was Britain’s longest-running rail franchise, but its routes have now been taken over. Virgin Trains has waved goodbye to its passengers, making its last trip after 22 years and almost 500 million journeys.
Who took over Virgin Trains East Coast?
Stagecoach and Virgin Trains, which had a 90% and 10% stake in the venture respectively, handed over control on Sunday after running it since 2015. The Department for Transport will run the service until a new public-private partnership can be appointed in 2020.
When did East Coast trains start?
Five new fully electric class 803 East Coast Trains are being built by Hitachi and will begin carrying passengers between Edinburgh and London from May 2021, offering passengers a high quality, cost effective and more sustainable alternative to flying between two of the UK’s capital cities.
Is Virgin now Avanti?
Avanti West Coast has taken over from Virgin Trains as the operator running the West Coast Main Line. The new operator’s parent company is a partnership between Aberdeen-based firm FirstGroup and Italy’s Trenitalia.
Is Brightline now virgin?
Brightline rebranded as Virgin Trains USA as part of a 20-year licencing agreement signed in November 2018, which also saw the operator rename its main station as Virgin MiamiCentral.
Who is LNER owned by?
The Department for Transport
The Department for Transport, or DfT runs LNER. They took over the franchise after Virgin Trains East Coast handed it back to the government. For us it’s a brilliant opportunity to bring rail travel up to speed and journey into the future.