Virgin Loses WCML Franchise

As had been widely speculated, First Group has been selected to take over the West Coast Main Line franchise instead of Virgin.

First Group's bid was substantially higher than that from incumbent, resulting in higher payments back to the Treasury. However, industry insiders and Virgin themselves have voiced fears that the bid is unsustainable. In a statement, Virgin boss Richard Branson said "We did not want to risk letting everybody down with almost certain bankruptcy at some time during the franchise, as happened to GNER and National Express who overbid on the East Coast mainline,"

Other than worries over First Group's ability to deliver on their promise, the concern is that there will have to be a substantial lowering of service standards and heavy job-losses. This news comes on the back of yesterday's announcement that rail fares in general will rise by over 6% early in 2013.

Perhaps in a bid to sweeten the pill, today's announcement includes news of the intention to add to the existing services, with direct trains to London from Blackpool and Bolton, and a strengthening of the service between London and Preston.