In November 2007, the CrossCountry franchise was taken over by Arriva CrossCountry after being retendered.[3][4] As part of a restructure of the franchise map by the Department for Transport, in December 2007 the CrossCountry services that operated to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the WCML were transferred to the InterCity West Coast franchise.[5][6]
In December 2019, the West Coast franchise was taken over by Avanti West Coast after being retendered.[7]
In May 2024, Virgin announced it had lodged an application with the ORR to operate services on the WCML from London Euston to Birmingham, Liverpool, Rochdale and Glasgow from December 2025.[10][11][12] Services would initially be operated by former Avanti West Coast Class 221Bombardier Voyagers, before electric multiple units would be purchased after infrastructure upgrades.[13] The application was rejected in July 2025 due to insufficient capacity on the rail network.[14]
In October 2024, Virgin Trains Europe Holdings Limited (VTE) applied to ORR for capacity on the Temple Mills Depot, intending to operate services on the High Speed 1 line to Kent, and further south to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, via the Channel Tunnel, aiming to begin service in 2030. The company has secured purchase rights for 12 Avelia Stream trainsets from Alstom.[15] The proposed trains will be part of a new £700million investment in services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.[16]
On 30 October 2025, ORR approved Virgin Trains' access to Temple Mills International Depot, paving the way for their services to begin in 2030.[17]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
