Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) which has operated 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In November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise would be superseded by the West Coast Partnership (WCP), which would include operating High Speed 2 (HS2) services from 2026.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.[2][3] In June 2017, the DfT announced three consortiums 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 8th 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.