• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

West Coast Partnership: Awarded to First Trenitalia

Status
Not open for further replies.
LNW-GW Joint

LNW-GW Joint

Veteran Member
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Messages
19,652
Location
Mold, Clwyd
AK1982 said:
Can anyone confirm whether the new operator plan to run direct services from Euston to Liverpool South Parkway?
I have just read an article by the Liverpool Echo which suggests they will along with the existing stopping service ran by London northwestern?
Click to expand...

It's in the initial First Trenitalia press release, but we're none the wiser as to how this will be achieved.
It might involve the new EMUs they intend to buy.
Pendolinos currently don't fit.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

A

applepie2100

Member
Joined
16 Aug 2011
Messages
167
According to the First Group press release it looks like pretty much the entire Virgin Trains senior management team will also be transferring directly to the new franchise:

FirstGroup and Trenitalia are also pleased to announce that the existing senior management team at Virgin Trains will transfer to the new Intercity West Coast business reporting to Phil Whittingham. They are: Mark Whitehouse, Executive Finance Director; Natasha Grice, Executive People Director; Sarah Copley, Executive Commercial Director; John Sullivan, Executive Chief Information Officer; and Richard Scott, Executive Corporate Affairs Director.

Bob Powell, currently Interim Executive Customer Experience Director at Virgin Trains; and Gus Dunster, Interim Executive Operations Director, will also transfer in their current interim roles to the new organisation while Sarah Kendall will join the team in the role of Projects Director. Sarah joins from the First-Trenitalia Mobilisation team.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2019/26-11-2019a.aspx
 
P

pt_mad

Established Member
Joined
26 Sep 2011
Messages
2,960
applepie2100 said:
According to the First Group press release it looks like pretty much the entire Virgin Trains senior management team will also be transferring directly to the new franchise:



Source: https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2019/26-11-2019a.aspx
Click to expand...

Phil Whittingham, who it says they will be reporting to, was a big wig at Virgin West Coast a few years ago, as I remember an article in Modern Railways about one or two extra stops in the Trent Valley, and he was quoted. Is he still there currently?

Sounds like VT under a different name!
 
LNW-GW Joint

LNW-GW Joint

Veteran Member
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Messages
19,652
Location
Mold, Clwyd
Yes, Phil Whittingham just rolls over his current job to First Trenitalia.
But it looks like all future developments, including projects and rolling stock, will be under the other MD Caroline Donaldson which is dominated by First Group people.
The rolling stock director Adriano Scapati appears to be from Trenitalia where he was the Frecciabianca Brand Manager.
 
A

applepie2100

Member
Joined
16 Aug 2011
Messages
167
LNW-GW Joint said:
Yes, Phil Whittingham just rolls over his current job to First Trenitalia.
But it looks like all future developments, including projects and rolling stock, will be under the other MD Caroline Donaldson which is dominated by First Group people.
The rolling stock director Adriano Scapati appears to be from Trenitalia where he was the Frecciabianca Brand Manager.
Click to expand...

The impression I got is that Caroline's team will be predominantly dealing with the HS2 part of the franchise and Phil will be dealing with the current WCML side of things. When you look at the support there seems to be from the travelling public (not the enthusiast or rail specialists) keeping the ex-Virgin team entirely in place seems like a good one and is something to shout loudly about. It would be even more wise to try to keep the First Group branding as far away as possible as well as leaving Phil and his team to get on with things just as they have been.
 
Grumpy Git

Grumpy Git

On Moderation
Joined
13 Oct 2019
Messages
2,135
Location
Liverpool
applepie2100 said:
The impression I got is that Caroline's team will be predominantly dealing with the HS2 part of the franchise and Phil will be dealing with the current WCML side of things. When you look at the support there seems to be from the travelling public (not the enthusiast or rail specialists) keeping the ex-Virgin team entirely in place seems like a good one and is something to shout loudly about. It would be even more wise to try to keep the First Group branding as far away as possible as well as leaving Phil and his team to get on with things just as they have been.
Click to expand...

In other words its just a huge big waste of money (or a great big money go round), whichever side of the corporate fence you are on?

Jobs for the boys and girls (and the branding team). Pffft.
 
T

The Planner

Veteran Member
Joined
15 Apr 2008
Messages
15,934
Grumpy Git said:
In other words its just a huge big waste of money (or a great big money go round), whichever side of the corporate fence you are on?

Jobs for the boys and girls (and the branding team). Pffft.
Click to expand...
Why would you radically change the top team if its working?
 
Grumpy Git

Grumpy Git

On Moderation
Joined
13 Oct 2019
Messages
2,135
Location
Liverpool
The Planner said:
Why would you radically change the top team if its working?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't, but I don't agree in privatisation of the railway. What a racket privatising the profit and nationalising the debt (subsidies). You couldn't make it up. Such a gravy train that foreign governments have their fingers in the pie.
 
LNW-GW Joint

LNW-GW Joint

Veteran Member
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Messages
19,652
Location
Mold, Clwyd
Terrier said:
West Coast Trains Ltd is the company name. Never heard it referred to Intercity since before Virgin days
Click to expand...

ICWC is the name always used for the franchise by DfT during the bidding process.
Along with ICEC for the East Coast operation.
It gets a bit confusing with ICGW because it is also referred to as the "Greater Western" franchise, after the remapping which added Thames and Wessex.
 
RealTrains07

RealTrains07

Established Member
Joined
28 Feb 2019
Messages
1,759
Any word on the decision about whether virgin will run the open access from london to liverpool yet?

If not then surely that decision should be made first before first make announcements about their 2nd hourly liverpool service?
 
RealTrains07

RealTrains07

Established Member
Joined
28 Feb 2019
Messages
1,759

Attachments

  • 34060993-20EF-41D6-8532-C33E1425A5D7.jpeg
    34060993-20EF-41D6-8532-C33E1425A5D7.jpeg
    20.8 KB · Views: 122
  • E1AC2D51-B58B-48C6-9EB4-37CA9CABC4E1.jpeg
    E1AC2D51-B58B-48C6-9EB4-37CA9CABC4E1.jpeg
    35 KB · Views: 128
EE Andy b1

EE Andy b1

Established Member
Joined
12 Dec 2013
Messages
1,212
Location
CLC
Need to see livery in full on a 390. Not too bad though. Can understand the livery if it is to blend in with LNR in the future when or if HS2 happens.
 
P

pt_mad

Established Member
Joined
26 Sep 2011
Messages
2,960
A search for Avanti West Coast this morning brought up this forum as first result........now try it!
 
RHolmes

RHolmes

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2019
Messages
566
Avanti West Coast - Let’s Go!

(Avanti translates as ‘let’s go’ in English)
 
A

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,647
Location
Redcar
A reminder that livery and branding discussion has it's own dedicated thread which can be found here. Please do try and keep that sort of discussion in the right place :)
 
py_megapixel

py_megapixel

Established Member
Joined
5 Nov 2018
Messages
6,672
Location
Northern England
M

M60lad

Member
Joined
31 May 2011
Messages
859
Whats going to happen to the Wi-Fi system on the trains will it just be rebranded and will Avanti Trains still offer the same things as what Beam currently does and will the Wi-Fi still work from the takeover date?
 
J

js1000

Member
Joined
14 Jun 2014
Messages
1,011
Really not sure about 'Avanti' - especially as it's part owned by an Italian company. They clearly missed that the idea of nationalisation (i.e. franchises operated directly by government) is quite popular among passengers. Won't help the perception that Britain's franchises are simply sold off and foreign companies rake the profit rather than on a not for profit basis re-investing the money into the system.
 
P

PR1Berske

Established Member
Joined
27 Jul 2010
Messages
3,025
M60lad said:
Whats going to happen to the Wi-Fi system on the trains will it just be rebranded and will Avanti Trains still offer the same things as what Beam currently does and will the Wi-Fi still work from the takeover date?
Click to expand...
Nobody knows.
 
Agent_Squash

Agent_Squash

Established Member
Joined
22 Jul 2016
Messages
1,233
js1000 said:
Really not sure about 'Avanti' - especially as it's part owned by an Italian company. They clearly missed that the idea of nationalisation (i.e. franchises operated directly by government) is quite popular among passengers. Won't help the perception that Britain's franchises are simply sold off and foreign companies rake the profit rather than on a not for profit basis re-investing the money into the system.
Click to expand...

Could give it a few years, then have Virgin 'joining the partnership' again with some fancy PR dribble before the rebrand is even done?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top