User:RFBailey/VT

Virgin Trains is a train operating company in the United Kingdom, which currently provides services from London Euston to the West Midlands, the North West and Scotland, on the West Coast Main Line. Prior to 11 November 2007, the company also provided services linking the south and south-west of England with the north of England and Scotland, via Birmingham. Although it is branded as part of the Virgin Group, their share in the company is only 51%, with the remaining 49% held by Stagecoach Group.

Virgin Trains was formed to take advantage of the privatisation of British Rail in the mid 1990s, and was initially successful in winning two: InterCity West Coast and InterCity Cross Country. The two franchises, although separate companies (in common ownership) both legally and operationally, were marketed as a single brand.

Cross Country franchise
Prior to 11 November 2007, Virgin Trains ran the Cross Country franchise, which operated long-distance services from the south and south-west of England, via Birmingham and Midlands to the north of England and Scotland. These services have now been transferred to a new franchise, CrossCountry, which was awarded to the Arriva Group, along with some former Central Trains services. However, the former Virgin Cross Country services between Birmingham and Scotland via the West Coast Main Line have been transferred to the West Coast franchise (and thus remain operated by Virgin), while those between Manchester and Scotland will eventually be transferred to First TransPennine Express.



Grayrigg derailment
On the evening of 23 February, 2007, a Virgin Trains Pendolino from London Euston to Glasgow Central derailed near Oxenholme in North West England. The train was the 17:15 service, headcode 1S83, from Euston. The train was carrying about 180 people. Several carriages were left lying on the railway embankments. An 84-year-old woman, named as Margaret Masson, from Glasgow, died in the crash. Five seriously injured people were hospitalised suffering from back, neck and head injuries. One of those in a serious condition was the train driver, Iain Black. The accident was caused by a faulty set of points.

The future
Projected growth in passenger numbers on the West Coast routes has prompted discussions about increasing the length of Pendolino sets to 11 or (more likely) 10 vehicles. The likelihood of 10 car formations was foreseen in the original WCML strategy, so minimal infrastructure improvements would be required. A decision was expected from DfT by the end of 2006. This has been put in jeopardy recently as a result of an enquiry into the leasing of trains being carried out by the Competition Commission. It is likely that plans will delay the improvements until 2011/2012.

Following the completion of the Trent Valley Line quadrupling and Rugby junction upgrades to allow 125mph running (completed by 2008), West Coast journey times are expected to fall further; Glasgow-Euston 4hr 15mins, Euston-Birmingham 1hr 20mins. Virgin claim that 135mph running may be possible in places, although Network Rail remain sceptical - stating that significant signalling upgrades would be required.

Other franchises
Virgin have consistently expressed an interest in the InterCity East Coast franchise since privatisation. However, it failed in its bid in 2005 to gain control of the route from incumbent GNER. On 15 December 2006, the DfT announced its wishes for GNER to 'surrender' the East Coast franchise, following financial and operational problems at its parent company, Sea Containers. This caused a re-start of the bidding process in which the DfT stated that GNER was welcome to re-bid for the franchise, an opportunity which they did not take up. However in a curious twist the GNER board later announced they would join the bid submitted Virgin and Stagecoach Group which has been shortlisted under the name "Intercity Railways". On Tuesday 14 August 2007, Department for Transport announced that National Express East Coast (NXEC Trains Ltd) had won the franchise.

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An open-access operator, Wrexham & Shropshire, has submitted a plan to operate services between London and North Wales, which would involve utilising a stretch of the WCML. Virgin Trains objected to this proposal, which would have seen Wrexham & Shropshire having trains call at Wolverhampton. Due to the moderation of competition protection that is part of Virgin's West Coast franchise agreement, Wrexham & Shropshire have had to submit a new proposal that will involve only limited use of Wolverhampton, with Tame Bridge Parkway railway station used as its main Midlands stop. Wrexham & Shropshire are due to begin their operations in spring 2008.

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On June 7, 2007, Richard Branson and Gordon Brown launched Europe's first bio-diesel train for a scheduled 11:27 London Euston - Llandudno service.