West Coast Partnership


The West Coast Partnership is a railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line, between London Euston, the West Midlands, Shropshire, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Founded in December 2019, it is currently operated by Avanti West Coast.

History

In November 2016, the Department for Transport announced that the InterCity West Coast franchise would be replaced by the West Coast Partnership, which will operate express services on both the West Coast Main Line and on High Speed 2.
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 with an option for the Secretary of State to extend the term by up to three years.
The DfT required that the new operator have experience in high-speed trains and infrastructure, hence all bidders 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:
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 Avanti West Coast, it commenced operating the franchise on 8 December 2019.