One of Virgin's franchise commitments was to replace theBritish Rail-era locomotives and rolling stock inherited by Virgin West Coast with brand newtilting trains. Following negotiations with several manufacturers, Virgin placed an order withAlstom/Fiat Ferroviaria to produce the envisioned tilting train, which was known by the namePendolino and was later designated underTOPS as theClass 390.[5] It was expected that the Pendolinos would run at service speeds of up to 140 mph (225 km/h) and that the whole fleet would be delivered by May 2002.[6] The service introduction of thePendolino was repeatedly delayed, a fact which has been attributed to the poor project management and the collapse of infrastructure ownerRailtrack.[7]
In order for tilting trains to be operated, Railtrack had committed itself to upgrading theWest Coast Main Line as to permit 140 mph operation by 2005. However, the modernisation of the line suffered from spiralling costs, rising from an estimated £2 billion to roughly £10 billion,[8] while the programme had failures that were technical as well as managerial, such as themoving block signalling apparatus being immature for such a busy mixed-traffic mainline.[9][10] Railtrack would ultimately collapse while its successor,Network Rail, would also be unable to fully deliver the promised upgrade, heavily impacting Virgin West Coast's operations.[11][12] The upgrade programme would be cut back, as a result, the top speed was reduced to 125 mph.[13] The Pendolino fleet was introduced into passenger services fromBirmingham International toManchester Piccadilly on 23 July 2002, coinciding with the opening of the2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.[14]
In October 1998, Virgin Group sold 49% of the shares in Virgin Rail Group to the British transport companyStagecoach.[15]
In the wake of the collapse ofRailtrack and the inability ofNetwork Rail to deliver on the 140 mph (225 km/h)West Coast Main Line upgrade, both theVirgin CrossCountry andVirgin West Coast franchises were suspended in favour of management contracts in July 2002.[19][20][21] While the terms of the West Coast franchise were renegotiated, agreement could not be reached on CrossCountry and it was retendered in 2007. While Virgin Trains did bid to retain the franchise, it was awarded toArriva, thus the services operated by Virgin CrossCountry were transferred toCrossCountry on 11 November 2007.[22][23]
During 2004, Virgin was again shortlisted to bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise, but was ultimately unsuccessful; the franchise was instead won bySea Containers, parent company of then train operatorGreat North Eastern Railway.[24] After Sea Containers was stripped of the East Coast franchise due to poor financial management,[25] Virgin was again shortlisted for the InterCity East Coast franchise in February 2007, submitting a bid had a 10% shareholding by the incumbent, Sea Containers. However, this bid was not successful, as the franchise was won byNational Express.[26][27]
During July 2008, Virgin was awarded a contract by the DfT to manage the introduction of 106 extraClass 390Pendolino carriages.[28][29] Virgin Trains made further enhancements to the Pendolino fleet,[30] perhaps most noticeable change was the 21 nine-car units each had one first class carriage converted to standard class.[31][32][33]
Virgin was shortlisted for theInterCity West Coast franchise by the DfT in March 2011.[34] In August 2012, the Department awardedFirstGroup the new franchise.[35] Virgin felt that the methodology used to award the franchise was flawed, andRichard Branson said it was unlikely Virgin would bid for any future franchises.[36][37] When the DfT did not respond to Virgin's concerns, it launched proceedings for ajudicial review.[38] While preparing its case for the judicial review, the government discovered significant technical flaws in the way the franchise process had been conducted, andcancelled the competition, vindicating Virgin's protests.[39]
In December 2012, Virgin was awarded a 23-month management contract to run the West Coast franchise until November 2014;[40] the contract was extended in stages until March 2020.[41]
During May 2013, there was a controversy regarding new uniforms, with claims that the blouses were too revealing and potentially exposed darkbras to the public. Virgin Rail Group responded to this by offering a voucher worth £20 to allow employees to purchase a top to wear underneath the new blouses.[42]
In November 2016, the government announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise would be replaced by theWest Coast Partnership, which included operatingHigh Speed 2 (HS2). Services were planned to begin on the first phase of HS2 in 2026.[43] The DfT requires that the new operator have experience in operating high speed trains (250 mph) and infrastructure.[44][45] To satisfy this requirement, Stagecoach (50%) and Virgin (20%) bid in a joint venture withSNCF (30%).[46][47] In April 2019, Stagecoach revealed that it had been disqualified from the franchises it was bidding for, including the West Coast Partnership.[48][49] One month later, the company announced that it would legally challenge the disqualification.[50] However, on 17 June 2020, theHigh Court ruled against the company and that the decision had been lawful.[51][52] Accordingly, Virgin Trains ceased in December 2019.
In 1998, Virgin Rail, as part of theCapital Rail consortium, was shortlisted for an Australianhigh-speed rail service fromSydney toCanberra.[54]
During November 2018, it was announced that Virgin Group would become a minority investor in the American companyBrightline and would provide rights to rebrand the service as Virgin Trains USA.[55][56] However, in August 2020, managers at the company alleged that Virgin had not provided the agreed investment money and thus it would be ending its branding deal, returning to the previous Brightline brand.[57][58][59] In March 2021, Virgin sued Brightline for $251.3 million because of the broken contract.[60][61] In October 2023, theHigh Court in London ruled in favour of Virgin, and awarded the company $115 million in damages. Brightline stated its intention to appeal the judgement.[62]
