Virgin to continue for another year

Following the dramatic u-turn over the WCRC franchise earlier this month, Virgin have been asked to continue running West Coast services for an extra nine months beyond the end of the current contract in December. Given that Richard Branson has previously offered to do precisely this, it seems unlikely that Virgin will turn down the contract extension.

The implication is that new bids for the WCRC prize will have been submitted, scrutinised and a decision made by some time in September 2013. Whilst all this will be seen as good news by some, the whole debacle has cost the tax-payer an eye-watering sum and perhaps more importantly, set-back any schedule for investment and station upgrades on the line by as much as a year.