Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is to return to Britain’s railways by launching services on the west coast mainline — the route that the billionaire was booted off by ministers five years ago.
The reborn Virgin Trains, which will compete head-to-head with the under-fire operator Avanti, has applied to run ten-carriage trains between London Euston and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The company has applied for a licence to be a new “open access” operator under rules allowing rivals to run trains on lines alongside the main operator.
Virgin services from Euston will be hourly to Preston via Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Lime Street under the application to the rail regulator. They will run every two hours to Glasgow.
Branson plans