Virgin Rail Group
 |
|
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Transport |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Richard Branson |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
West Coast Main Line |
| Owner |
Virgin Group (51%) Stagecoach (49%) |
| Subsidiaries |
Virgin Trains Virgin CrossCountry |
| Website | www |
Virgin Rail Group was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail. Virgin bid for a number of franchises, including Gatwick Express, InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast. It was successful in winning the latter two, and Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast began operations in January and March 1997 respectively. Both franchises were scheduled to run for 15 years.
In 1998 Virgin Rail, as part of the Capital Rail consortium, was shortlisted for an Australian high-speed rail service from Sydney to Canberra.
In October 1998 Virgin Group sold 49% of the shares in Virgin Rail Group to Stagecoach. In March 2000 Virgin was shortlisted to bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise. In January 2002 the Strategic Rail Authority scrapped the refranchising process and awarded a two-year extension to GNER.
In the wake of the collapse of Railtrack and the inability of Network Rail to deliver on the 140 mph (225 km/h) West Coast Main Line upgrade, both the Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast franchises were suspended in favour of management contracts in July 2002. While the terms of the West Coast franchise were renegotiated, agreement could not be reached on CrossCountry and it was retendered in 2007.
Virgin was shortlisted to bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise in 2004, but was not successful, as the franchise bid was won by Sea Containers, parent company of then train operator Great North Eastern Railway. Virgin was shortlisted for the New CrossCountry franchise by the Department for Transport in September 2006, but was not successful with the Virgin CrossCountry franchise transferring to Arriva in November 2007.
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Wikipedia