Petition · past parliament
Review the DFT’s decision to disqualify Virgin Trains from WCP franchise bid.
Closed
648 signatures
What the petition asks
On Wednesday 10 April, the Department for Transport announced that a joint venture between Virgin, Stagecoach and SNCF had been disqualified from the West Coast Partnership bid which would have meant the West Coast Mainline continuing under Virgin Trains whilst getting to work on starting HS2 plans.
The disqualification came from the DFT asking for Virgin Trains to take a financial risk that they could not have managed or been in control of themselves, a decision that would have been reckless. This is an industry-wide issue and forcing rail companies to take these risks could lead to the failure of more rail franchises.
Virgin Trains have been revolutionary in UK rail with initiatives such as Delay-Repay, Beam and Alexa.
Virgin Trains has a 90% customer rating. Long may it continue!
Virgin Trains have been revolutionary in UK rail with initiatives such as Delay-Repay, Beam and Alexa.
Virgin Trains has a 90% customer rating. Long may it continue!
Timeline
| 3 May 2019 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 3 Nov 2019 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
648
Status
Closed
Opened
3 May 2019
Closed
3 Nov 2019
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.