Virgin CrossCountry

Virgin CrossCountry

Company type	Train operating company (subsidiary)
Industry	Rail transport
Founded	5 January 1997
Defunct	11 November 2007
Fate	Franchise transferred to Arriva's CrossCountry
Headquarters	Birmingham , United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom (CrossCountry franchise)
Parent	Virgin Rail Group (49% Stagecoach from 1998)

Virgin CrossCountry was a British train operator responsible for running the InterCity CrossCountry franchise between January 1997 and November 2007. It operated under the Virgin Trains brand alongside the InterCity West Coast franchise.

Service commenced on 5 January 1997 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Although originally awarded a 15-year term, the franchise was converted into a management contract in July 2002. In the late 2000s, the government reissued the CrossCountry franchise, leading to the transfer of operations to Arriva’s CrossCountry on 11 November 2007.

Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail routes in the UK, predominantly avoiding Greater London after 2003. Every route included Birmingham New Street as a key hub. The company implemented significant service restructures including Project Princess and Project Omega. To update its rolling stock, Virgin introduced Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super Voyager trains, replacing older British Rail-era vehicles.

History

During the mid-1990s privatisation of British Rail, Virgin Rail Group submitted bids for multiple franchises such as Gatwick Express, InterCity CrossCountry, and InterCity West Coast. It successfully secured the latter two franchises, launching Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast under contracts set for 15 years. Operations officially started on 5 January 1997 through its subsidiary CrossCountry Trains Limited.

In October 1998, Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group to Stagecoach.

Virgin intended to deploy new tilting train technology; however, delays occurred due to infrastructure constraints overseen by then-operator Railtrack. Planned upgrades on the West Coast Main Line aimed at enabling speeds up to 140 mph by 2005 encountered rising expenses and technical difficulties such as immature moving block signalling systems. After Railtrack’s collapse in 2002, its successor Network Rail also failed to deliver all promised enhancements, which had a considerable impact on Virgin’s operations.

As a result of these infrastructure setbacks, both Virgin’s CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast franchises were suspended in July 2002 and replaced with management contracts. While terms for the West Coast franchise were renegotiated, the CrossCountry franchise was put out for competitive tender. Virgin submitted a bid alongside other interested companies.

In September 2006, the Department for Transport shortlisted Virgin Rail Group as a candidate for the new CrossCountry franchise. Four bidders—Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express, and Virgin Rail Group—received invitations to tender in October 2006. On 10 July 2007, Arriva was awarded the franchise; subsequently, Virgin CrossCountry services were transferred to Arriva’s new operator, CrossCountry, on 11 November 2007.

Services

In May 1998, Virgin launched new routes connecting Portsmouth Harbour with Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North. The Summer Saturday service to Ramsgate was discontinued in September 1999. Similarly, Summer Saturday services to Weymouth ended in September 2002.

Operation Princess

In September 2002, Virgin Trains introduced Operation Princess, implementing a clockface timetable featuring shorter trains running more frequently. Nevertheless, the rollout faced considerable setbacks due to technical issues with the new train fleet, alongside infrastructure and capacity limitations, resulting in major service interruptions. Punctuality rates fell sharply to 54.1% during the period from September 2002 to January 2003. As a result, Virgin negotiated with the Strategic Rail Authority to reduce certain services in order to enhance reliability on the main network.

At its inception, Operation Princess operated on the following routes:

Code		Route	Outcome
VT0		Birmingham New Street to Swindon via Cheltenham	Discontinued summer 2003
VT1		Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, and Blackpool North passing through Birmingham New Street to destinations in the South West of England	Blackpool North service withdrawn summer 2003
VT2		From Aberdeen, Edinburgh Waverley, and Newcastle via Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street to Poole	Services west of Bournemouth ceased summer 2003
VT3		Routes from Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, and Template:Stnlnk through Birmingham New Street to London Paddington, Portsmouth, and Brighton	Services to Portsmouth and London Paddington ended summer 2003; reduced frequency to Brighton; all Liverpool Lime Street services withdrawn winter 2003
VT4		From Aberdeen and Edinburgh Waverley via Birmingham New Street to Cardiff, Swansea, Paignton, and Penzance	Services west of Cardiff terminated summer 2003

Project Omega

Project Omega was designed to expand upon the West Coast modernisation efforts by proposing new Virgin CrossCountry routes connecting to Teesside through and , as well as linking to via for Heathrow access. These services were intended to operate using Class 220 trains. The initiative also included plans to extend Virgin's West Coast and CrossCountry franchises by an additional five years (from 2012 until 2017) and to increase capacity by adding a fifth carriage to 38 Voyager trains.

By the time Virgin Trains lost the CrossCountry franchise to Arriva in 2007, the network consisted of:

Code		Route
VT1		Serving the South West of England through Birmingham towards the North West of England and Scotland
VT2		Connecting the South Coast through Birmingham with northern regions of England and Scotland
VT3		Linking the South West of England and South East Wales via Birmingham to the North East of England and Scotland

Rolling stock

Virgin CrossCountry took over a diverse assortment of rolling stock, which included Class 47 and Class 86 locomotives, Mark 2 Carriages, High Speed Trains, as well as Class 158 Express Sprinter units. Additionally, Class 47 locomotives hired from English Welsh & Scottish and Fragonset were frequently utilized.

The franchise agreement required the replacement of this inherited fleet with modern equipment. In December 1998, Virgin secured a lease for 78 Voyager diesel–electric multiple units from Bombardier Transportation. This order comprised 34 four-carriage Class 220 'Voyagers' and 44 Super Voyagers—40 five-carriage and four four-carriage sets—equipped with tilting technology to enable higher speeds on curved lines such as the West Coast Main Line. Initially, the four-carriage Super Voyagers were designated for Virgin West Coast's London Euston–Holyhead route but were eventually integrated into the general Voyager pool. Five-carriage units commenced Holyhead operations in September 2004.

The inaugural Class 220 Voyager was delivered from Belgium in January 2001 and entered service by May of that year. By August 2002, the older Class 47s, Class 86s, and Mark 2 carriages had been phased out, while the Express Sprinters were reassigned to other operators.

In response to rapid demand growth, Virgin CrossCountry intended to refurbish eight High Speed Trains under the name Virgin Challengers for services between London Paddington and Manchester Piccadilly via Cheltenham Spa, with options to extend the program. Nevertheless, following the failure of Operation Princess, this initiative was abandoned, and the remaining HSTs were withdrawn by September 2003 in line with Strategic Rail Authority instructions.

To enhance capacity on summer Saturday routes to Paignton and Newquay, Virgin CrossCountry temporarily hired HSTs from Virgin West Coast, Midland Mainline, and Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), alongside Mark 3B loco-hauled carriages supplied by Virgin West Coast. During summer Saturdays in 2004, services to Paignton were operated using Class 67 locomotives leased from EWS coupled with Mark 2 carriages leased from Riviera Trains.

Starting in September 2004, a reserve set of Mark 2 carriages leased from Riviera Trains was primarily deployed with an EWS Class 90 locomotive on the Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly route, occasionally extending to Newcastle using a Class 57/3 locomotive.

When Voyagers were unavailable, HSTs borrowed from Midland Mainline and GNER also covered Edinburgh Waverley–Plymouth services.

Original fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn	Notes
Class 43		Diesel locomotive	1976–1982	2003	Operated alongside Mark 3 carriages.
Class 47		Diesel locomotive	1962–1968	2002	Used with Mark 2 carriages; some converted into Template:Brc/3 locomotives.
Class 86		Electric locomotive	1965–1966	2002	Paired with Mark 2 carriages.
Class 158 Express Sprinter		DMU	1989–1992	2003
Mark 2 carriage		Passenger carriage	1964–1975	2002	Operated in conjunction with Class 47 and Class 86 locomotives.
Mark 3 carriage		Passenger carriage	1975–1982	2003	Used with Class 43 locomotives.

Final fleet

Class	Image	Type	Maximum speed		Years built	Quantity
			mph	km/h
Class 220 Voyager		Diesel-electric multiple unit	125	200	2000–2001	34
Class 221 Super Voyager		Diesel-electric multiple unit	125	200	2001–2002	44

Proposed fleet (not constructed)

Class	Image	Type	Planned build year	Intended quantity	Notes
Class 255 Virgin Challenger		DMU	2002 (planned upgrade)	14 (planned)	Intended upgrade of the High Speed Train fleet to operate services linking Blackpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Paddington to Birmingham via Swindon. These plans were ultimately abandoned due to the Strategic Rail Authority’s decision to reassign most units to Midland Mainline for London-Manchester 'Rio' routes.

See also

• Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain
• Cross Country Route