- published: 22 Oct 2012
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Virgin Trains (legally known as West Coast Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom controlled by Virgin Group. It operates long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland. The company is 49% owned by Stagecoach Group.
Virgin Trains was formed to take advantage of the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s. It was initially successful in winning two rail franchises: InterCity West Coast (Virgin West Coast), operating long-distance services on the West Coast Main Line, and InterCity CrossCountry (Virgin CrossCountry), operating a group of long-distance non-London routes centred on Birmingham. The two franchises, though legally and operationally separate, were marketed as a single brand.
The CrossCountry franchise was lost to Arriva group in 2007. Most services were transferred to Arriva, except those between Manchester and Scotland, which went to First Transpennine Express, and those between Birmingham and Scotland (via the west coast mainline), which went to Virgin West Coast.