Its the end of the rail for the Virgin Trains service, and the Avanti West Coast are taking over. After 22 years of franchise, Virgin Trains have been closed down, after their partners Stagecoach had been obstructed from three rail franchise bids. Their bid to continue running on the line was disqualified by the Department for transport as they didn't meet pension rules.

Almost over 500 million journeys have been taken with Virgin Trains. It was co-owned by Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin company as well as Stagecoach.  Branson says he was "devestated" after the disqualification. Avanti West Coast will be replacing Virgin Trains, and although Virgin Trains is being closed down, the operator said that Customers who booked for future journeys with Virgin still have valid tickets which they are able to use with the Avanti West Coast railway service.

The new rail service say that they will improve their services such as better catering and much more reliable Wi-Fi. The operator also said that there would be 263 more weekly services by 2022, when 23 new trains will begin service.