After three years in which they lost more than £200m, the DfT took control from Virgin Trains East Coast. That experience made the Virgin-Stagecoach combination wary of committing too much for the renewal of the West Coast franchise. In particular, they were not prepared to commit to uncertain pension liabilities.

Virgin Trains disappeared from the UK rail network in December 2019 after the Department for Transport (DfT) disqualified its bid for the new West Coast Partnership franchise. The disqualification stemmed from a significant dispute regarding pension liabilities; the DfT required bidders to take on the financial risk of multi-billion pound pension deficits, a condition that Virgin’s partner, Stagecoach, refused to accept, leading to their bid being declared "non-compliant." This effectively ended Virgin’s 22-year run on the West Coast Main Line, which connected London Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow. The franchise was subsequently awarded to Avanti West Coast (a partnership between FirstGroup and Trenitalia). While Sir Richard Branson’s brand was highly popular for its service and "Pendolino" tilting trains, the government's move toward a more rigid risk-sharing model for rail franchises made it impossible for the iconic red-and-silver brand to continue its operations under the existing legal framework.