VIRGIN REQUIEM
They called it ‘Mission Impossible’; a hugely expensive and complex project to rebuild the West Coast Main Line as a 140mph railway with advanced in-cab signalling, tilting trains and a high-frequency timetable that would lure people away from domestic air travel and the motorways.
While it did indeed prove impossible to deliver the promised top speed or signalling upgrades, the West Coast Main Line has been transformed since the late-1990s and continues to win more passengers away from the airlines.
The spectacle of packed trains heading north every few minutes from London Euston in the evening peak, carrying several hundred passengers each, is a spectacular demonstration of how to operate a modern, high-frequency inter-city railway.
Over the last 22 years, Virgin Trains, led by founder Richard Branson, has become a high-profile fixture of the privatised passenger railway, winning and losing three franchises, investing hundreds of millions of pounds in new trains, refurbishing stations, and pioneering improvements to customer service such as electronic tickets and airline-style, on-train entertainment. However, the company’s involvement in running trains has also often been marked by controversy, criticism and, on occasions, legal action, costing taxpayers millions of pounds.
The history of the Virgin Rail Group (VRG) is, of course, inextricably linked with another major transport company now departed from the UK rail scene – Stagecoach. In October 1998, Virgin Group sold 49% of its shares in VRG to Stagecoach and the two companies have worked together ever since, not least on Virgin Trains East Coast which, despite the name, was a 90/10 joint venture led by Stagecoach.
Virgin’s first success was the capture of the InterCity CrossCountry franchise in November 1996. Virgin took over its operation on a chilly January 5, 1997, unveiling a striking new red, white and grey livery on a High Speed Train set that had been secretly repainted for the special occasion. It worked a day-long launch train from Edinburgh to Penzance, calling at all the route’s major towns and cities to promote the new image and Virgin’s ambitious plans for the franchise.
This sprawling, nationwide network was regarded as a ‘Cinderella’ system, reliant on hand-me-down trains. However, that would change beyond recognition over the next few
