| | 
Avanti West Coast NRC
FirstGroup/Trenitalia
***UPDATE***
The Labour Government elected on 4 July 2024 announced that all National Rail Contracts would be terminated and taken over by Great British Railways when the contract expired or at the first available break point (which may be the ‘core expiry date’), and possibly sooner in the event of a breach of contract by the operator.
The first break point in this operator’s contract is 18 October 2026.
| | |
Avanti West Coast NRC
National Rail Contract
replaced
< Avanti West Coast
start date
15 October 2023
end date
18 October 2026
owned by
FirstGroup/Trenitalia
legal title
First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited
description
A new National Rail Contract was awarded to FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) on 19 September 2023, to start on 15 October 2023.
This replaced the previous short term contract which had been awarded in March 2023 after Avanti West Coast had been affected by performance problems and high cancellation figures. It was the second short-term contract to be allowed while Avanti recovered.
The present contract was to run for at least three years until 18 October 2026 and possibly up to nine, until October 2032, although the transport secretary would have been able to end the contract at any time during the six-year extension period by giving three months’ notice.
On 20 March 2024 the Board of Transport for the North called for the contract to be terminated.
service area
Long distance services: London Euston-Rugby-(Trent Valley)/Coventry/Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton/Stoke-on-Trent-Crewe-Chester-Wrexham Manchester Piccadilly/Liverpool Lime Street/Holyhead/Glasgow Central/Edinburgh. London Euston-Blackpool North, London Euston-Shrewsbury (until 1 June 2024).
Projected High Speed services (HS2): (London Euston)-Old Oak Common-Birmingham International-Birmingham Curzon Street
2023-09-19 > New contracts for Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry
2023-03-20 > Avanti West Coast wins last minute contract extension
2019-12-09 > New Avanti franchise launches on West Coast
| | |
| |
