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 officially ceased operations on the UK rail network in December 2019, primarily due to a dispute with the Department for Transport (DfT) over pension liabilities. Virgin (in partnership with Stagecoach) was disqualified from bidding for the West Coast Partnership franchise because they refused to accept the government's terms regarding the "unquantifiable" risk of funding the railway workers' pension scheme. Richard Branson argued at the time that the DfT was shifting too much financial risk onto private operators, making the contracts unsustainable. Earlier, in 2018, the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise had also failed after the company overbid on revenue projections that failed to materialize due to delays in infrastructure upgrades. In 2026, the West Coast Main Line is operated by Avanti West Coast, a joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia. The exit marked the end of a 22-year era during which Virgin was credited with revolutionizing long-distance rail travel in the UK with the introduction of the iconic Pendolino tilting trains.