Virgin Trains (London-Manchester)
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Virgin Trains (London-Manchester)
Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 9 March 1997 to 7 December 2019. The franchise covered long-distance passenger services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and southern Scotland, consequently connecting six of the UK's largest cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh, which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million. It had around 3,400 employees in 2015. The Virgin Trains brand was also used on the legally and operationally separate Virgin Trains East Coast from 2015 until 2018, and previously on Virgin CrossCountry, which operated between 1997 and 2007, as well as from 2018 to 2020 by Virgin Trains USA in Florida. The contract expired on 7 December 2019 (havi ...
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InterCity West Coast
InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other major destinations between. The franchise was formed during the privatisation of British Rail and transferred to the private sector on 9 March 1997, when Virgin Trains commenced operations. It was due to be re-let in December 2012, with FirstGroup announced as the winning bidder; this decision was later reversed after the discovery of irregularities in the franchise letting process. In December 2012, Virgin Trains was awarded an extension to continue to run the franchise until November 2014, which was extended in several increments until December 2019. The InterCity West Coast franchise was superseded on 8 December 2019 by the West Coast Partnership, currently operated by Avanti West Coast. Servic ...
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InterCity (British Rail)
InterCity (or, in the earliest days, the hyphenated Inter-City) was a brand name introduced by British Rail in 1966 for its long-haul express passenger services (see British Rail brand names for a full history). In 1982, the British Railways Board divided its operations into a number of sectors ( sectorisation). The sector responsible for long-distance express trains assumed the brand-name InterCity, although many routes that were previously operated as InterCity services were assigned to other sectors (e.g. London to King's Lynn services were transferred to the commuter sector Network SouthEast). InterCity brand Etymology InterCity derives from the prepositional of the with ''City'' giving rise to meaning ''between cities''. The Inter-City train British Rail first used the term ''Inter-City'' in 1950 as the name of a train running between London Paddington and Wolverhampton Low Level. This was part of an overall policy of introducing new train names in the post Worl ...
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Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Straits of Florida to the south, and The Bahamas to the southeast. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It has the List of U.S. states by coastline, longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately , not including its many barrier islands. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of over 23 million, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by population, third-most populous state in the United States and ranks List of states and territories of the United States by population density, seventh in population density as of 2020. Florida spans , ranking List of U.S. states ...
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Brightline
Brightline (reporting mark BLFX) is an intercity rail route in the United States that runs between Miami and Orlando, Florida. Part of the route runs on track owned and shared by the Florida East Coast Railway. Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad in the United States. Its development started in March 2012 as All Aboard Florida by Florida East Coast Industries, a Floridian real estate developer owned by Fortress Investment Group. Construction began in November 2014 and the route began revenue service in January 2018, initially between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach; the Miami to Fort Lauderdale segment began revenue service in May of that year. Infill stations at Aventura and Boca Raton opened in December 2022, and the West Palm Beach to Orlando segment began revenue service in September 2023. Additional stops are being planned for the route. Brightline's maximum operating speed is . Trains cover the route in 3 hours and 25 ...
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Virgin CrossCountry
Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Along with the InterCity West Coast franchise held by a separate legal entity, the company traded under the Virgin Trains brand. Operations commenced on 5 January 1997 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Originally scheduled to run for 15 years, the franchise was suspended in favour of a management contract in July 2002. The government opted to retender the CrossCountry franchise during the late 2000s and services were transferred over to Arriva-owned CrossCountry on 11 November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in the United Kingdom, but most avoided Greater London entirely as a result of changes in 2003. All of its services called, or terminated, at Birmingham New Street railway station, Birmingham New Street. Multiple service reorganisations, such as Pro ...
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Virgin Trains East Coast
Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East England, North East and Scotland. It commenced operations on 1 March 2015, taking over from East Coast (train operating company), East Coast as a joint venture between Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin Group (10%). It was originally intended to run until 2023 and return £3.3 billion to the government in the form of franchise premiums, but, due to the line performing below VTEC's expectations, it was announced in May 2018 that the contract would be terminated early by the government; VTEC ceased operating on 23 June 2018, when operations passed to the government-owned operator, London North Eastern Railway. While the operation itself was profitable, VTEC placed part of the blame for the under-performance with respect ...
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Metropolitan Area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metropolitan area usually comprises multiple Principal city, principal cities, jurisdictions and Municipality, municipalities: Neighbourhood, neighborhoods, townships, boroughs, City, cities, towns, exurbs, suburbs, County, counties, districts and even State (polity), states and nations in areas like the eurodistricts. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions.In the United States, metropolitan areas are delineated around the Urban Area, core of a core based statistical area, which is defined as an urban area and includes central and outlying counties. In other countries metropolitan areas are sometimes anchored by one Core ...
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Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the List of English districts by population, largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest city in Britain – commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom – with a population of million people in the city proper in . Birmingham borders the Black Country to its west and, together with the city of Wolverhampton and towns including Dudley and Solihull, forms the West Midlands conurbation. The royal town of Sutton Coldfield is incorporated within the city limits to the northeast. The urban area has a population of 2.65million. Located in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midland ...
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Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent Islands of Scotland, islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. To the south-east, Scotland has its Anglo-Scottish border, only land border, which is long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The population in 2022 was 5,439,842. Edinburgh is the capital and Glasgow is the most populous of the cities of Scotland. The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, forming a personal union of the Union of the Crowns, three kingdo ...
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North Wales
North Wales ( ) 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, with Snowdonia, Snowdonia National Park ( and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley (), known for its mountains, waterfalls and trails, wholly within the region. Its population is concentrated in the North East Wales, north-east and northern coastal areas, with significant Welsh-speaking populations in its North West Wales, western and rural areas. North Wales is imprecisely defined, lacking any exact definition or administrative structure. It is commonly defined administratively as its six most northern Principal areas of Wales, principal areas, but other definitions exist, with Montgomeryshire historically considered to be part of the region. Those from North Wales are sometimes referred to as "Gogs" (); in turn, those from South Wales are sometimes cal ...
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North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,417,397 in 2021. It is the Countries of the United Kingdom by population, third-most-populated region in the United Kingdom, after the South East England, South East and Greater London. The largest settlements are Manchester and Liverpool. It is one of the three regions, alongside North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber, that make up Northern England. Subdivisions The official Regions of England, region consists of the following Subdivisions of England, subdivisions: The region has the following sub-divisions: After abolition of the Greater Manchester and Merseyside County Councils in 1986, power was transferred to the metropolitan boroughs, making them equivalent to unitary authorities. In April 2011, Greater Manchester gained ...
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West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known traditionally as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities: Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester. The West Midlands region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire which border Wales, and Worcestershire. The region is landlocked; however, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region south-eastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, incl ...
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