Award of new West Coast partnership contract
Commenting on the award of the new West Coast partnership contract to First Trenitalia,
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, said:
“Virgin-Stagecoach have brought significant benefits to passengers on the West Coast route including nearly tripling the number of trains between London and Manchester. We have no doubt that First Trenitalia will build on that record with plans for new trains and more services.
“Today marks an important milestone on the route to realising HS2, which will transform rail journeys across the country, boosting capacity and helping to rebalance the economy. We now know who will run the first trains on HS2 and lead on designing the whole customer experience from the timetable to the tickets that people will buy.
“This signals a positive direction of travel from the Williams review in harnessing the best of the private and public sectors working together. We look forward to wider reforms expected from this review so that we can deliver the railway passengers want and the country needs.”