The West Coast Partnership (WCP) is a railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

(WCML)(and branches thereof), between

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

, the West Midlands,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. Founded in December 2019, it is currently operated by First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited, comprising two distinct parts,

Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...

which runs the current services on the WCML, and West Coast Partnership Development, which is the 'shadow operator' for future high-speed services.

History

In November 2016, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

(DfT) announced that the

InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between Euston railway station, London E ...

franchise would be replaced by the West Coast Partnership, which will operate express services on both the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and on

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

(HS2). At that time, very high speed services were planned to begin on the first phase of HS2 in 2026. The new franchise was originally to start in September 2019, and to operate an initial seven years of WCML services to 2026, followed by five years as the integrated operator for WCML and HS2 (to 2031) with an option for the Secretary of State to extend the term by up to three years (to 2034). The DfT specified that the new operator must have experience in high-speed trains and infrastructure, hence each bidder partnered with an Asian or European high-speed operator. In June 2017, the DfT announced three consortiums had been shortlisted to bid for the franchise: *

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

(30%) *

MTR Corporation MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hon ...

(75%) / Guangshen Railway Company (25%) *

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

(50%) /

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

(30%) /

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding co ...

(20%) In December 2018, MTR announced that Spain's main rail operator Renfe Operadora had joined its joint bid as a key subcontractor. In April 2019, Stagecoach Group was disqualified for submitting a non-compliant bid. In August 2019, the DfT announced the FirstGroup / Trenitalia consortium as the successful bidder. Trading as

and West Coast Partnership Development, it commenced operating the franchise on 8 December 2019. As a result of the

COVID pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

, the franchising system in Great Britain was abolished in the autumn of 2020. The Franchise Agreement was initially replaced by an Emergency Measures Agreement (EMA) between 1 March 2020 and 20 September 2020, and subsequently by an Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement (ERMA), in effect until the end of March 2022 with an optional extension until October 2022. Following the ERMA, a directly-awarded National Rail Contract (NRC) will see First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited continuing to operate the franchise for 10 years until October 2032.

References

{{Rail franchises in Great Britain, state=collapsed Railway franchises in the United Kingdom