Virgin CrossCountry

Infobox Rail companies
bgcolor=B30212
image_filename=Virgin Voyager 220003 2005-06-09 03.jpg
widthpx=300px
franchise=Cross Country
1997 – 2007 (originally 2012)
logo_filename=Virgin_trains_logo_(updated).gif
nameforarea=route
regions=South and South West England - Midlands - Northern England and Scotland
secregions=
fleet=34 "Voyager" and 44 "Super Voyager" sets
stations=Unknown
parent_company=Virgin Trains
website=
websitename=

"For the new franchise holder of the Cross Country Route, see CrossCountry."

Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in Great Britain, part of Virgin Trains, from January 1997 until 11 November 2007. The company's operations were former InterCity services centred on Birmingham New Street, operating across the country (but usually avoiding London).

History

The franchise was the first of two awarded to Richard Branson's Virgin Group in 1997; the group later sold a 49% stake to the Stagecoach Group. The company inherited a fleet from British Rail which dated largely from the 1960s and 1970s. An important franchise commitment was the replacement of these trains, which happened in 2001 when the new Voyager and Super Voyager trains entered service.Fact|date=November 2007 However, by this stage, the company had acquired a poor reputation for reliability with passengersFact|date=November 2007.

In September 2002, Virgin launched "Operation Princess", a new timetable launched to coincide with its new trains, which were meant to solve the reliability problems blamed on the elderly rolling stock. However, the new trains suffered problems of their own [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2492385.stm
title=Virgin's catalogue of misfortune
date=November 19 2002
accessdate=2007-11-15
author=Simon Montague
publisher=BBC News] , including technical problems, as well as being much smaller than their predecessors, which led to overcrowding. The new timetable proved difficult to operateFact|date=November 2007 and cutbacks to services were ordered by the government's Strategic Rail AuthorityFact|date=November 2007. Some destinations, such as Liverpool Lime Street, Blackpool, Portsmouth and London Paddington, were eliminated from the Cross Country network altogether, while others (such as Gatwick Airport and Brighton)) saw considerable reductions in services. Many of these changes reversed some of Virgin's earlier expansions.Fact|date=November 2007

Fate

The Virgin Cross Country franchise finished on 11 November 2007 as part of reshuffle of franchises which primarily affected the Midlands. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4352660.stm|title=Rail shake-up hits Virgin Trains|date=2005-10-18|publisher=BBC News Online] A new CrossCountry franchise was created, incorporating the majority of Virgin's Cross Country services, along with some former Central Trains "Citylink"services. However, services between Birmingham New Street, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh via the West Coast Main Line were transferred to the West Coast franchise, and thus continue to be operated by Virgin, while services between Manchester Piccadilly, Glasgow and Edinburgh will be transferred to First TransPennine Express from December 2007.

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced on 19 September 2006 that four parties had pre-qualified for the new franchise, including Virgin [cite web|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/ncc/|title=New Cross Country Franchise|publisher=Department for Transport] . On 10 July 2007, it was announced that Arriva had been awarded the Cross-Country franchise, from 11 November 2007 until April 2016 [cite news|title=Virgin loses Cross Country rail|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6286904.stm|date=2007-07-10|publisher=BBC News Online] . Virgin sought an "early meeting with the DfT" in order to obtain an explanation for their bid being unsuccessful [cite web|url=http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/news/default.aspx#news_146|title=Virgin Rail Group disappointed at New Cross Country franchise decision|date=2007-07-10|publisher=Virgin Trains] .

Final network

ee also

*Cross Country Route

References

External links

s-ttl|title=Operator of Cross Country franchise
years=1997 — 2007