Avanti West Coast

Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that began operating the West Coast Partnership franchise on 8 December 2019. It replaced Virgin Trains, which had operated the franchise since 1997.

History
In November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise would be superseded by the West Coast Partnership (WCP), which would include operating High Speed 2 (HS2) services from 2026.

The DfT required that bidders have experience in high-speed trains and infrastructure, hence all partnered with an existing high-speed operator. In June 2017, the DfT announced that three consortia had been shortlisted to bid for the franchise:


 * FirstGroup (70%) / Trenitalia (30%)
 * MTR Corporation (75%) / Guangshen Railway Company (25%)
 * Stagecoach (50%) / SNCF (30%) / Virgin Group (20%)

In December 2018 Renfe Operadora joined the MTR-led bid. In April 2019, the Stagecoach-led bid was disqualified after it proposed significant changes to the commercial terms.

In August 2019 the DfT awarded the franchise to the First Trenitalia consortium with Avanti West Coast to commence operations on 8 December 2019. Some uncertainty remains as the Competition and Markets Authority launched a merger inquiry into the award of the franchise following a referral from the European Commission.

Services
Avanti West Coast initially operates the same services as Virgin Trains on the West Coast Main Line. When High Speed 2 opens, it will also operate these services.

Over the course of the franchise several timetable changes are expected to be made.



Extensions
The above table shows the regular off-peak service pattern; however, some services are extended beyond their usual destination. Extensions include:


 * beyond Birmingham New Street: 2 trains per day to Shrewsbury calling at Sandwell and Dudley (1tpd), Wolverhampton, Telford Central and Wellington;
 * beyond Chester: 1 train per day to Wrexham General only
 * across the North Wales line: 7 trains per day to Bangor calling at Flint (5tpd), Prestatyn (5tpd), Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction, with 6 of those extended one stop further to Holyhead.

In addition there were 4 trains per day between London Euston and Blackpool North, calling at Rugby, Stafford (1tpd), Crewe (1tpd), Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Kirkham and Wesham (1tpd) and Poulton-le-Fylde (1tpd). These services operated at irregular intervals throughout the day.

Future Services
Future services include:


 * a daily service will be introduced between London Euston and Walsall from December 2020, with an additional northbound service from 2022
 * an additional service will be introduced to Shrewsbury from December 2022
 * a direct service will be introduced between London Euston and Llandudno during the summer months from May 2021
 * Subject to approval by the Office of Rail and Road, an additional hourly service will be introduced between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street with a stop at Liverpool South Parkway from December 2022
 * additional calls will be made at Motherwell from December 2020
 * additional direct journeys at Milton Keynes Central to and from London Euston from December 2022
 * extension of the daily service from London Euston to Wrexham General to Gobowen from December 2022
 * earlier first trains and later last trains from London Euston to Llandudno Junction on weekends from December 2022
 * earlier first trains and later last trains from London Euston to Chester on weekends by December 2022
 * Later last trains from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on weekdays by December 2020

Rolling stock
Avanti West Coast commenced operations with the existing Super Voyager and Pendolino fleets. Both the Super Voyagers and the Pendolinos will be refurbished.

Future fleet
All 20 Super Voyagers will be replaced by thirteen Hitachi bi-mode multiple units and ten Hitachi electric multiple units with the former used for services to Shrewsbury, Chester, Gobowen and North Wales and the latter used for services to Birmingham New Street, Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime Street. The new Hitachi fleets will be maintained at Alstom's Oxley depot. It was later confirmed that these would be made up of units identical to British Rail Class 800 and British Rail Class 801. The TOPS numbers for this class have not been announced.

It will also operate a new fleet on HS2 services from 2026.