Friday 17 April 2026

| home

::: RMT ScotRail staff walk out

Avanti West Coast NRC
West Coast Partnership

called for the contract to be terminated.



" target="blank" class="mouse" >A new National Rail Contract was awarded to FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia on 19 September 2023, to start on 15 October 2023.

This replaced the previous short term contract which had been awarded in March 2023 after Avanti West Coast had been affected by performance problems and high cancellation figures. It was the second short-term contract to be allowed while Avanti recovered.

The present contract will run for at least three years until 18 October 2026 and possibly up to nine, although the transport secretary will be able to end the contract at any time during the six-year extension period by giving three months’ notice.

On 20 March 2024 the Board of Transport for the North called for the contract to be terminated.





www.westcoastrail.co.uk

$ start date * 15 October 2023 ** $ end date * October 2032 (max.)**

start date

end date


owned by
FirstGroup/Trenitalia

legal title
First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited

was replaced by
Long distance services: London Euston-Rugby-(Trent Valley)/Coventry/Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton/Stoke-on-Trent-Crewe-Chester-Wrexham Manchester Piccadilly/Liverpool Lime Street/Holyhead/Glasgow Central/Edinburgh. London Euston-Blackpool North, London Euston-Shrewsbury (until 1 June 2024).
Projected High Speed services (HS2): (London Euston)-Old Oak Common-Birmingham International-Birmingham Curzon Street


/rh7/industry/database/franchises/bus_franchise.php?doc=^ICW^