Why did Virgin sell their trains?

Virgin had bid to continue to run trains on the line with its partner Stagecoach and – ahead of High Speed 2 (HS2) – SNCF. But the consortium refused to take what it saw as open-ended responsibility for part of the massive pensions deficit across the rail industry.



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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.

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Virgin Trains no more: Brightline severs ties with Richard Branson empire. Less than two years after Brightline announced a “strategic partnership” with Virgin Group and rebranded its trains as Virgin Trains USA, the rail service now says its parent company has scrapped the agreement.

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Virgin Trains and its partner Stagecoach have been excluded from bidding to continue to run trains on the West Coast main line beyond 2020 because, says the DfT: “They submitted non-compliant bids for all current competitions which breached established rules and, in doing so, they are responsible for their own ...

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Avanti West Coast is owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia. The new West Coast Partnership operates all trains on the West Coast Franchise, taking over from Virgin Trains in December 2019.

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Amtrak provides the ability for rail/train car owners to have their privately-owned rail/train cars attached to our trains between specified locations to see North America in an extraordinary way.

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A Network of High-Speed and Shared-Use Lines Those improvements will allow Brightline to run up to 110 mph from West Palm Beach to Cocoa starting in 2023. Brightline trains will seamlessly exit the freight line at Cocoa and head west on the new dedicated tracks to Orlando International Airport.

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The Glacier Express is the world's slowest train, taking more than eight hours to travel between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland at an average of 18mph. Along the way, it passes over nearly 300 bridges, travels through 91 tunnels and takes in endless stunning Alpine views.

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Ranking of the five fastest commercial trains in the world in 2023
  • Shanghai Transrapid Maglev Train, China: 267.8 mph (431 km/h) ...
  • CR400 Fuxing train, China: 217.4 mph (350 km/h) ...
  • ICE 3, Germany: 205 mph (330 km/h) ...
  • TGV, France: 198.8 mph (320 km/h) ...
  • Shinkansen, Japan: 198.8 mph (320 km/h)


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The Glacier Express is the world's slowest train, taking more than eight hours to travel between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland at an average of 18mph. Along the way, it passes over nearly 300 bridges, travels through 91 tunnels and takes in endless stunning Alpine views.

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On 10 July 2007, the Department for Transport awarded the new CrossCountry franchise to Arriva; accordingly, the services operated by Virgin CrossCountry were transferred over to the newly created operator, named CrossCountry, on 11 November 2007.

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