This application is for rights to operate services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street. The services will be operated by Virgin Trains Limited (VTL). The application is seeking rights to enable VTL to operate a new hourly service through most of the day (24 services per day, 7 days a week) between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street, from the Principal Change Date December 2022. It is expected these services will also call at Nuneaton, Tamworth, Lichfield, and Liverpool South Parkway. This stopping pattern will connect previously unconnected towns and cities to the City of Liverpool. The contract would expire at the Principal Change Date December 2027. The services will be operated using Class 221, 125mph, tilt-enabled rolling stock. The new services will be unique in the UK rail industry. Every ticket will be guaranteed to be at least 10% cheaper than equivalent tickets offered by rail competitors. Each ticket will also come with a seat reservation for a specific service, meaning everyone will be guaranteed a seat. The VTL service would be the only rail service in the UK to guarantee no overcrowding, in normal operations. If there is disruption on the rail network and services are busier than normal, any customer who cannot get a seat will get a full refund of their ticket. VTL believes that there is off-peak and weekend capacity on the proposed route in the existing WCML timetable and as part of this application is looking forward to exploring with Network Rail how that capacity could be made available to Virgin Trains. It is Network Rail's responsibility to ensure it uses its capacity for the benefit of all passengers and freight. The rights sought by VTL are intended to be flexible so that Network Rail can make the best use of capacity on routes with high demand.