Avanti West Coast rebrand

Hazlehead · 16 Jan 2020

It's due to damage caused by bombardier when the Virgin badge was removed I was told by a staff member

RailUK Forums

RealTrains07 · 16 Jan 2020

LNW-GW Joint said:
Was on a 390 from Manchester today.
Conductor starts announcing "Welcome to this Virgin..er..sorry, Avanti West Coast service..."
He seemed to be struggling throughout the piece about when to say "Avanti".
The passenger adjacent said "I'm on a Virgin train" into his phone at one point.
Three weeks in and Virgin still won't die...

Give them time not even 2 months in yet

RealTrains07 · 16 Jan 2020

Then again you couldnt have exactly had a PA announcement promoting BEAM. a virgin trains product that would no longer be in use on a first train company could you?

LeylandLen · 16 Jan 2020

Im told on good authority that 390137 lost its pantograph on WCML at Hest Bank near Lancaster today on 1S45 to Glasgow.
So it will be out of action for a while . Does that mean rebranding of 390s will be on hold until they have a full compliment of 390s ?

RealTrains07 · 16 Jan 2020

LeylandLen said:
Im told on good authority that 390137 lost its pantograph on WCML at Hest Bank near Lancaster today on 1S45 to Glasgow.
So it will be out of action for a while . Does that mean rebranding of 390s will be on hold until they have a full compliment of 390s ?

I think it depends how many units they plan to refurb at one time. If its one then it shouldnt be too much of an issue

but given that its gonna take time depending whether they do the interior or exterior separately or try both at the same time??

probably will choose to wait?

Trainfan2019 · 17 Jan 2020

LeylandLen said:
Not that important but if you can give a time the pic was taken , it would help. I guess 1455 ish ?Looks to be in platform 5 at Crewe ; the wording on the 'Virgin' voyager looks to read London Euston, Milton Keynes Central and Welcome Aboard but I cant read the figures.
Obviously its a double 221 Voyager ; I think its taken about 1455 Friday. Looks to be in platform 5 ; I assume you were on platform 6 ! 221113 was on 1H43 Holyhead to Euston joined with 221101 at Chester. 221101 had previously worked `1D86 1210 Euston to Chester so the combined Voyagers worked south from Chester as 1H43.
NewSt in #410 was almost right; they had joined at Chester as it was a southbound service !

Also, I understand rebranding of 390s is done at Alstom Widnes. Would 221101 have been done at Barton Under Needwood Rsmd near Wolverhampton ?

I took the photo at 14:55 and I was walking on platform 5. The train was on platform 6. I remember having to take the photo quick as would either miss my train or get told by staff to keep behind the yellow line!

M60lad · 17 Jan 2020

Why will it take a while to repair a pantograph? Surely it doesnt take that long for the old one to be took off and a new one to be put on, also where will 390137 go to be repaired?

bengley · 17 Jan 2020

M60lad said:
Why will it take a while to repair a pantograph? Surely it doesnt take that long for the old one to be took off and a new one to be put on, also where will 390137 go to be repaired?

Indeed, it's not a long job at all. It will probably be back in service tomorrow.

james_the_xv · 17 Jan 2020

RealTrains07 said:
Give them time not even 2 months in yet

People are tweeting Avanti asking about XC services...

It's been 12 years.

Virgin won't die for a while yet.

Energy · 17 Jan 2020

james_the_xv said:
People are tweeting Avanti asking about XC services...

It's been 12 years.

Virgin won't die for a while yet.

I suppose you hear a lot of Avanti replacing Virgin Trains, not Virgin Trains West Coast

ScottGallagher · 18 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
A damp squib is what the franchise feels like, to be honest. A bit like Virgin but with none of the sparkle (though to their credit no more talking bogs and a slightly less chatty PA style).

"Avanti West Coast. It's OKish. Could be worse, could be LNR."

Definitely no Italian flair!

Didn't the First Group director say they didnt want it to be prim and proper well they certainly have got that right anyway

Avanti Wet Toast sums it up perfectly

CeeJ · 18 Jan 2020

james_the_xv said:
People are tweeting Avanti asking about XC services...

It's been 12 years.

Virgin won't die for a while yet.

I wonder if that’s because they’re at Avanti-run stations?

CambrianCoast · 18 Jan 2020

One thing I feel that’s seemingly had a “rebrand” is the Avanti West Coast Twitter team’s responses to customers. The brand voice evidently feels like a stern deviation from Virgin Group’s bouncy, and at times cringeworthy tone!

Goldfish62 · 19 Jan 2020

RealTrains07 said:
I think it depends how many units they plan to refurb at one time. If its one then it shouldnt be too much of an issue

but given that its gonna take time depending whether they do the interior or exterior separately or try both at the same time??

probably will choose to wait?

Surely if the refurb/rebrand is put on hold every time a train is taken out of service for unplanned reasons then it would never actually ever happen?

Agent_Squash · 19 Jan 2020

CambrianCoast said:
One thing I feel that’s seemingly had a “rebrand” is the Avanti West Coast Twitter team’s responses to customers. The brand voice evidently feels like a stern deviation from Virgin Group’s bouncy, and at times cringeworthy tone!

Ironic that the SM team seemed like they wanted to keep the lively style before Avanti took over - and there’s now been no memes since!

I miss the lively tweets to be honest.

devonexpress · 19 Jan 2020

vlad said:
My train out of Manchester today was announced by the train manager as the Virgin train to London - it took a bit of time for her to correct herself. I can't help feeling the staff psyche will be the last thing to be rebranded.

We had it for several weeks when First Great Western rebranded to GWR, took about a month before everyone got themselves sorted, and even then it happened occasionally for the first year.

Bletchleyite · 19 Jan 2020

Agent_Squash said:
Ironic that the SM team seemed like they wanted to keep the lively style before Avanti took over - and there’s now been no memes since!

I miss the lively tweets to be honest.

The new tone seems quite aggressive and arrogant (and often just factually incorrect).

RealTrains07 · 19 Jan 2020

Goldfish62 said:
Surely if the refurb/rebrand is put on hold every time a train is taken out of service for unplanned reasons then it would never actually ever happen?

That would all depend on how many units are taken out at a time.

like i said if its the usual 1 then their shouldn’t be any issues for the rest in service?

BurtonM · 21 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
The new tone seems quite aggressive and arrogant (and often just factually incorrect).

That's First alright. Like Keolis TPE's laughable attempt at doing announcements in-house.

Bletchleyite · 21 Jan 2020

BurtonM said:
That's First alright. Like Keolis TPE's laughable attempt at doing announcements in-house.

Yes, I long thought that the clipped and aggressive tone on those announcements set the scene perfectly for the arrogant and passenger-unfriendly attitude that pervaded that instance of TPE as a TOC. "We're InterCity, don't you know", as another poshed-up excessively short suburban DMU heaved out of the station with a passenger rammed into every possible space[1].

The funny thing is that I don't find that GWR has that attitude - it seems to have in many ways simply carried on being BR in a different colour.

[1] To be fair they are not the only allegedly IC TOC that has that problem.

LancasterRed · 21 Jan 2020

The signage has been 'upgraded' at Lancaster. Not the easiest to read being an understatement...

Bletchleyite · 21 Jan 2020

Looks OK to me.

cactustwirly · 21 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
Yes, I long thought that the clipped and aggressive tone on those announcements set the scene perfectly for the arrogant and passenger-unfriendly attitude that pervaded that instance of TPE as a TOC. "We're InterCity, don't you know", as another poshed-up excessively short suburban DMU heaved out of the station with a passenger rammed into every possible space[1].

The funny thing is that I don't find that GWR has that attitude - it seems to have in many ways simply carried on being BR in a different colour.

[1] To be fair they are not the only allegedly IC TOC that has that problem.

Surely that's a hangover from VT, they've always struck me as arrogant. It is the same staff and management team as well.
I've grown up with a First ToC and now my local ToCs are Abellio (previously Stagecoach) and Arriva, I have to say that First are the best of the lot in my experience, not perfect by any means, but none of them are.

Aictos · 21 Jan 2020

LancasterRed said:
The signage has been 'upgraded' at Lancaster. Not the easiest to read being an understatement...

What’s wrong with it? Looks fine to me and does the job.

LancasterRed · 22 Jan 2020

The new signage is much harder to read for those like me with sight issues.

Rebranding team at Preston today.

RealTrains07 · 24 Jan 2020

Just a quick update on the pendo refurbishment timeframe
https://twitter.com/avantiwestcoast/status/1220436224588029952?s=21
https://twitter.com/avantiwestcoast/status/1220436224588029952?s=21

Pendolino rebranding will take place at the same time as major refurbishment, this is planned to commence late 2020, complete by March 2023

first fully refurbished unit due in December (lets see how long that lasts?)

Scotrail314209 · 24 Jan 2020

RealTrains07 said:
https://twitter.com/avantiwestcoast/status/1220436224588029952?s=21

first fully refurbished unit due in December (lets see how long that lasts?)

390/155 has now been rebranded

I don’t understand why everyone is so annoyed about refurbishment taking so long. Pendolinos are long trains, there’s a considerable amount of work being done to them. I think 3 years is rather speedy considering they could only do one at a time to ensure they have enough to cover the services.

Mathew S · 24 Jan 2020

LancasterRed said:
The new signage is much harder to read for those like me with sight issues.

Rebranding team at Preston today.

What is it about it that makes it harder to read?

TT-ONR-NRN · 24 Jan 2020

RealTrains07 said:
https://twitter.com/avantiwestcoast/status/1220436224588029952?s=21

first fully refurbished unit due in December (lets see how long that lasts?)

390/155 has now been rebranded

It’s been rebranded since the second day of Avanti West Coast being in operation - it is made very clear throughout the thread. Just so you know.

sprinterguy · 24 Jan 2020

RealTrains07 said:
390/155 has now been rebranded

390155 had full Avanti vinyls applied for the launch day, along with 390156.

RealTrains07 said:
https://twitter.com/avantiwestcoast/status/1220436224588029952?s=21
first fully refurbished unit due in December (lets see how long that lasts?)

Thanks for that, I wondered what the timescale for the refurbishment was going to be, and also confirms as I suspected that units will only gain the full branding as they are refurbished. Makes sense, that.

Initial press statement from Avanti seemed to suggest that all the Pendolinos would be refurbished by the end of 2020, rather than the refurb commencing then, which always struck me as one heck of a challenge to get over 500 carriages outshopped in that timeframe.

Avanti West Coast rebrand

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