The former ‘InterCity West Coast’ was the second franchise to be awarded to Virgin in March 1997 and among the last to be transferred to the private sector thus completing the privatisation project. West Coast services link London Euston with the West Midlands, North West England, Cumbria and Scotland.

Initially the ‘jewel in the InterCity crown’, the first long distance main line electrification scheme had been completed about thirty years prior and the significant investment of then was by now pretty much past its ‘ride-by’ date. Whilst under British Railways Board ownership, InterCity had tried many times to secure the investment needed to not only replace worn out assets but introduce new high speed trains - but all to no avail as central government funding was not forthcoming.

The winning Virgin bid provided for massive investment in a brand new fleet of tilting Pendolino trains – the UK’s first tilting trains since the aborted APT project of the 70’s/80’s – coupled with massive regeneration and reconstruction of track and signalling all the way to Glasgow. A significant element of this was the provision of 140mph running south of Crewe achieved through a revolutionary (and previously un-tried in the UK) system of ‘in-cab’ signalling. Our major partner was to be Railtrack who would undertake all of the construction works with Virgin paying via increased ‘track access payments’.

In the immediate period following the signing of the deal, the world changed rapidly and it became apparent that progress on the West Coast Upgrade was behind schedule and certain elements appeared to be un-deliverable. This chain of events leading through the post Hatfield accident ‘trauma’ culminated in the abolition of Railtrack and its replacement by Network Rail and a change in leadership for the project to the Strategic Rail Authority. This enabled the project to be amended in its scope but guaranteed delivery against the new agenda. The most significant omissions from the ‘new’ upgrade plan were in-cab signalling and 140mph running.

The new top speed was to be 125mph, which still provided a significant improvement on what was then achievable.

Following several years of engineering works, including periods of total closure to individual sections the first phase of the rejuvenated route was launched in September 2004. This has enabled us to provide 125mph tilting trains between London and Crewe/Stockport on the routes to Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Glasgow and North Wales and between London and Birmingham on our West Midlands routes.

This has given an overall reduction in journey times of around 20% at the same time as increasing the number of trains run. As an example, on our London – Manchester route the previous average journey time was around 2hrs40mins with a train broadly every hour. This has now been reduced to an average of 2hrs16mins (with a fastest train of 2hrs06mins) with trains now running half-hourly throughout the day. Weekend services remain at their previous levels/speeds whilst further works are carried out during these traditionally quieter days.

The completion of the first stage of the project sees the works move northwards, where significant track replacement works are needed to enable 125mph running through to Glasgow by December 2005. A huge scheme to ‘four-track’ the Trent Valley route from Rugby – Stafford to enable more trains to use this section of route is also now starting. This along with major re-modelling of Rugby and Stafford stations and junctions should be completed in 2008.

The September timetable change gave a step-change in the speed and frequency of our timetable and also saw 80% of services operated by our new Pendolino trains. This rises to 100% by June 2005 as the rectification and modification process concludes.

The major changes in the scope of the West Coast Upgrade scheme along with the significant changes within the industry mean that the financial position of West Coast (and many other operators) is now fundamentally different to that predicted at franchising. Virgin Rail Group has been continuing to operate the West Coast franchise on behalf of the Strategic Rail Authority over the last two years pending possible early re-negotiation of the franchise.