Avanti West Coast officially takes over from Virgin Trains

Avanti West Coast officially takes over the West Coast Main Line today, beginning a new era of intercity high-speed rail services in the UK.

A fully liveried train bearing the franchise’s new branding will travel from London Euston Station stopping at Coventry, Birmingham International, Stafford, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle and Motherwell before arriving in Glasgow.

Before it departs from London Euston, Raffaele Trombetta, the Italian Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Gregory and Orazio Iacono will name the train ‘Pride and Prosperity’.

The Avanti name, which is Italian for Let’s Go, and Forward, shows progress and movement, along with the triangle logo representing the geographic points of the 400-mile long West Coast Mainline.

FirstGroup and Trenitalia have taken over the franchise from Virgin Trains who ran the service for 22 years.

The new partnership brings a host of further improvements for passengers, including a refurbishment programme of its Pendolino trains as well as 25,000 new seats, more reliable Wi-Fi, and power sockets for all passengers.

By 2022, there will be 263 extra train services every week to more places and a fleet of new trains that will replace the current Voyager trains.

What did the officials say?

Steve Montgomery, Managing Director of First Rail, said:

“We’re delighted to start serving the customers who take 40 million journeys every year on the west coast. We’ll bring families, friends, businesses and communities closer together with new trains and new destinations. We’re excited to get our plans underway and take services to the next level.”

Orazio Iacono, Managing Director of Trenitalia, said:

“We’re honoured to begin operating intercity services on the West Coast Main Line, one of the busiest railways in Europe, that will bring a host of improvements for the millions of people who use it every year.  Trenitalia will also be using its skills to help design and manage high speed rail services from North to South in the UK over the next few years. The name Avanti was chosen to represent our values and recognises our ten-year experience in the high speed in Italy with 350 million passengers. Quality, dynamism, innovation and future: this is what we want to guarantee for the West Coast main line service”.

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