Virgin Trains to take on Avanti as Branson returns to west coast line
The Richard Branson-led rail company has applied for a licence to be an open-access operator on the London-to-Scotland line, in competition with the main operator
Oliver Gill
Saturday May 18 2024, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is to return to Britain’s railways by launching services on the west coast mainline — the route that the billionaire was booted off by ministers five years ago.
The reborn
Virgin Trains, which will compete head-to-head with the under-fire operator Avanti, has applied to run ten-carriage trains between London Euston and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The company has applied for a licence to be a new “open access” operator under rules allowing rivals to run trains on lines alongside the main operator.
Virgin services from Euston will be hourly to Preston via Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street under the application to the rail regulator. They will run every two hours to Glasgow.
Branson plans to undercut Avanti fares and is looking at offering automatic delay repay — meaning customers will be reimbursed without having to take action if their train is delayed or cancelled. It is also expected to bring back some of the more quirky elements to train travel such as its “talking toilets.”
The new services are not expected to begin until after the general election, but will be unaffected by Labour
plans to nationalise prime rail operatorssuch as Avanti, Southern and Thameslink into a single British Rail entity. Open access operators will continue to be allowed to run alongside the main service.
Branson was seen as the poster child of rail privatisation begun under the Conservatives in the mid-1990s and accelerated under Labour in the 2000s. He overturned a decision to eject Virgin Trains from the west coast mainline in 2012 after a High Court challenge.
However, Virgin Trains was then disqualified from re-tendering for the same line in 2019 because its bid did not meet pension rules, according to the Department for Transport.
It was replaced in 2019 by Avanti, which has been rocked by widespread cancellations and delays as bosses grapple with driver shortages and poor industrial relations. Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, and his counterparts across the north have repeatedly demanded that Avanti be stripped of the contract to operate intercity services up and down the west coast.
Passengers have also been angered by spiralling fares. A standard-class anytime return ticket leaving at 6am on Tuesday and returning at midday on Thursday costs £369, for example.
Services have, however, improved after Avanti offered drivers a £600 flat fee for working on rest days. Avanti’s co-owner, FirstGroup, took the unusual step of applying to run its own rival open-access service to Rochdale last week.
Josh Bayliss, the Virgin Group chief executive, confirmed this weekend that an application had been made to the Office of Rail and Road.
He said: “We think open access is the way forward. Open access increases consumer choice and competition, both of which Virgin has always supported.
“In the 20 years Virgin Trains operated on the west coast, it reduced journey times considerably, tripled services on key routes and provided an exceptional customer experience while increasing passenger numbers to 42 million a year.
“We’re confident customers would welcome Virgin Trains back, providing them with much-needed choice and competition.”
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