Avanti West Coast
First Trenitalia West Coast Rail, trading as Avanti West Coast, is a British train operating company and franchise that operates the West Coast Partnership. The company is owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia but is in the process of being nationalised as part of the abolition of passenger rail franchising in Great Britain; Avanti West Coast routes will be taken over by Great British Railways by October 2027.
Avanti West Coast provides the principal long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland. Its services connect six of the largest cities in the UK – London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh – which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18million.
Avanti West Coast began services in December 2019, at which time it inherited 56 high speed electric multiple units and 20 diesel-electric multiple units from Virgin Trains. The 390s underwent major refurbishment between 2021 and 2024, and in 2024 the 221s were replaced with new bi-mode multiple units and electric multiple units.
History
Background
In November 2016, the Department for Transport announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise, which was held by Virgin Trains from 1997 to 2019, would be superseded by the West Coast Partnership. The principal change of the WCP was the inclusion of the High Speed 2 services, then envisioned to start around 2026. Accordingly, the DfT required that bidders have experience in operating high-speed trains and the associated infrastructure, which led to all tendering parties either being, or partnering with, an existing high-speed operator.In June 2017, the DfT announced that three consortia had been shortlisted to bid for the franchise:
- FirstGroup / Trenitalia
- MTR Corporation / Guangshen Railway Company
- Stagecoach / SNCF / Virgin Group
In August 2019, the DfT awarded the franchise to the First Trenitalia consortium with Avanti West Coast to commence operations on 8 December 2019. The Competition and Markets Authority launched a merger inquiry into the award of the franchise following a referral from the European Commission. In December 2019, the CMA approved the franchise's award; concerns that limited competition on some routes could lead to higher fares and less availability of cheaper tickets were offset by the agreement of price caps to be present in some regions.
Strikes and train cancellations (2022-2024); contract extensions and nationalisation
Services were curtailed in 2020 due to a decline of passenger travel and staffing shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.The DfT produced an Emergency Measures Agreement and then in September 2020, an Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement, which extended Avanti West Coast's contract until 1 April 2031.
Avanti West Coast was impacted by the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who voted to take industrial action due a dispute over pay and working conditions. In response, the company appealed for the general public to avoid the railways for non-essential travel on the affected dates of 21, 23, and 25 June 2022, as only a minimal service could be run due to the number of staff choosing not to work. On 29 June 2022, Avanti West Coast's staff voted in favour of further strikes.
Between 14 August and 18 September 2022, Avanti West Coast reduced its timetable, citing unofficial strike action from its employees. However, this allegation was disputed by Aslef.
In August 2022, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, expressed his frustration at Avanti West Coast and explained his intention to ask the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to rescind the Avanti West Coast franchise. In September 2022, the CEO of Avanti West Coast resigned amid the timetable controversy.
In October 2022, the UK Government extended Avanti's contract for six months but stated "drastic improvements" were necessary.
According to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road on 12 November 2022, Avanti West Coast had the worst record of train cancellations in the year prior to this date. The average cancellation rate in Great Britain was 3.8%, while Avanti West Coast's rate was 8%.
In March 2023, the Avanti West Coast contract was extended by six months to expire on 15 October 2023.
On 19 September 2023, DfT extended the contract, starting on 15 October 2023, with a core term of three years and a maximum term of nine years. A that time, DfT noted that Avanti-caused cancellations were consistently below 3% since March 2023.
In December 2024, it was announced that Avanti West Coast would be nationalised as part of the abolition of passenger rail franchising in Great Britain. Avanti West Coast routes will be taken over by Great British Railways by October 2027.
Avanti West Coast will be one of the last two train operators to be nationalised after its contract expires.
Services
Avanti West Coast currently operates the same services as Virgin Trains did on the West Coast Main Line before 2019.In November 2019, before services commenced, it was anticipated that, from December 2022, an additional 263 train services would be run every week.
In February 2021, Avanti West Coast launched smartcard ticketing as a more convenient and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional paper tickets.
Routes
As of December 2025, Avanti West Coast weekday regular intercity routes are as follows:Rolling stock
Avanti West Coast commenced operations having inherited the Super Voyager and Pendolino fleets from Virgin Trains. The 56 Pendolinos underwent major refurbishment, as announced at the start of the franchise contract, between 2021 and 2024.Current fleet
In 2024, all the were replaced by 23 new trains from the Hitachi A-train family, with maintenance taking place at Alstom's Oxley TRSMD depot in Wolverhampton. These trains are divided into thirteen bi-mode multiple units and ten electric multiple units. Although the units have the same top speed, they do not tilt like the nor the Class 221 Super Voyagers they replaced. The Class 805s are used on services to, and North Wales, and the Class 807s are used on services to, and .Future fleet
Prior to the announcement by the Starmer government that all train operating companies were to be nationalised by October 2027, Avanti West Coast had planned to operate at least 54 new high speed trains for High Speed 2 services. These are to be built by Hitachi Rail and Alstom in the UK and were expected to enter service between 2029 and 2033,although in 2025, the opening of HS2 was postponed with no new date given.