Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast HST at Leeds station
Overview
Franchise(s):	InterCity East Coast 1 March 2015 – 31 March 2023
Main route(s):	London - Aberdeen London - Edinburgh London - Newcastle London - York London - Leeds London - Newark
Other route(s):	London - Inverness London - Glasgow London - Sunderland London - Skipton London - Bradford London - Harrogate London - Hull London - Lincoln
Fleet size:	31 InterCity 225 sets 14 InterCity 125 sets
Stations called at:	53
Stations operated:	12
National Rail abbreviation:	GR
Parent company:	Stagecoach Group (90%) Virgin Group (10%)
Website:	www.virgintrainseastcoast.com
Route map

Route map

Virgin Trains East Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operates the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. It commenced operations on 1 March 2015, taking over from East Coast. It is a joint venture between Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin Group (10%).

In January 2014, FirstGroup, Keolis/Eurostar and Stagecoach/Virgin were announced as the shortlisted bidders for the new InterCity East Coast franchise. In November 2014, the eight-year franchise was awarded to the Stagecoach/Virgin joint venture company Inter City Railways Limited, and commenced operating on 1 March 2015 trading as Virgin Trains East Coast.

Virgin Trains East Coast took over all of the services operated by East Coast. It categorises its weekday services from London King's Cross into four routes:

xx:35 service calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate and Leeds