维珍火车停运

Virgin Trains in the UK has ceased operation, and the new train service, Avanti West Coast, has been launched.

Virgin Trains in the UK has stopped running, even Pikachu is crying...

Source: Matt Claypole

Source: Richard Branson

Virgin Trains in the UK officially ceased operation starting from Saturday, December 7, 2019. That means there won't be any more Virgin Trains... When I heard this news, I felt... well, I didn't really feel anything. However, they made a promotional video for their final journey, and I have to say, the atmosphere is quite cheerful, and the song is catchy too! Wow, oh wow, you can really watch it :)

 

In the video below, the man speaking at the beginning is Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Trains. He is an entertaining and wealthy boss... By the way, the passenger who enters at the end of the video looks a bit like a gingerbread man... Tenliang Miao noticed that in the UK, many places like to give gingerbread men to Tenliang Miao, but I politely decline their generosity :)

Source: Virgin Trains

What? You don't know who the boss is? In the image below is the boss, a wealthy person with 12.7 million followers on Twitter... He's a legendary rich person. Tenliang Miao will talk about this wealthy individual with a wealth of experiences when there's time in the future.

。。。

As shown in the image below, the wealthy boss with 12.7 million followers posted a message expressing gratitude

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Source: Richard Branson

Even in November 2019, just a month before the cessation of operations, Virgin Trains was still playfully saying goodbye to everyone.

I feel naked：）

Source: Virgin Trains

Speaking of Virgin Trains, its full English name is Virgin Trains. It's very common to hear Virgin Trains announcements at various train stations in the UK... Although if Tenliang Miao didn't hear it wrong, the most frequent announcement Tenliang Miao heard was "Virgin Train, Virgin Train, Train, Train, Train, Train, Train...".

 

Uh, due to various issues, trains in the UK are prone to delays. Therefore, Tenliang Miao often ends up taking the wrong train :)

 

This reminds Tenliang Miao of a time when Tenliang Miao wanted to take a train to London. However, the train Tenliang Miao was supposed to board was delayed, and Tenliang Miao didn't pay attention. Tenliang Miao thought the train arriving at the scheduled time was the one Tenliang Miao was supposed to take. So Tenliang Miao got on it, only to realize later that it was heading to some other mysterious place. Tenliang Miao forgets the specific destination, but after a long journey, the ticket inspector informed Tenliang Miao during the ticket check that Tenliang Miao was on the wrong train... The feeling was quite something, wow, oh wow, you can really try it :)

 

However, the train service is exceptionally good. After getting off at the wrong station, the ticket inspector will help you disembark at the next platform and guide you to the customer service center. They will then assist you in re-planning your route and provide you with a free ticket for the next train to London. The speed is also quite fast!

：）

So, why did Virgin Trains cease operations?

 

The first reason is that the franchise agreement for Virgin Trains expired.

 

Some of you may wonder, if the franchise expired, couldn't they just renew it? That's a good question raised by Tenliang Miao's friends. I will address that in the second reason shortly.

 

Virgin Trains completed nearly 500 million journeys in the UK and operated for a remarkable 22 years. It can be said that many people grew up riding Virgin Trains... For international students like us, we even graduated while riding Virgin Trains.

 

In the image below, the passenger named Harry Parkin is one of those who grew up riding Virgin Trains

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Source: Harry Parkin

The Virgin Trains ticket shared by a netizen in the image below

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Source: Chesire_trainspotter

The cessation was due to the expiration of Virgin Trains' rail franchise in the UK, which happened to coincide with the completion of 22 years in December 2019. The final Virgin Trains service departed from London Euston at 21:42 on December 7th, heading towards Wolverhampton, marking the end of its operations.

 

Tracing back through history, Virgin Trains initially started serving the West Coast Main Line in 1997. It was one of the railway operating companies in the UK and was jointly owned by the Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group.

Source: Daniel

Until December 3rd, just a few days before the cessation, Virgin Trains was still posting reminders to passengers, saying "Please mind the gap" and officially announcing their upcoming cessation of operations. This phrase is very familiar to Tenliang Miao, as it is commonly heard in subway systems and trains abroad. Tenliang Miao's hobby when riding the subway or train is to recite along with the announcements.

Please mind the gap, next station。。。

Source: Virgin Trains

The second reason is that Virgin Trains did not comply with the retirement pension regulations set by the Department for Transport (DfT) in the UK.

 

According to BBC reports, in April 2019, both Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group (which owns 49% of Virgin Trains) were disqualified from bidding for three rail franchise contracts due to Stagecoach Group's failure to meet the retirement pension regulations set by the Department for Transport (DfT). This included the denial of a renewal of the West Coast rail franchise and the rejection of Virgin Trains' applications for the East Midlands and South Eastern franchises.

 

Currently, both companies are taking legal action against the DfT's decision.

Source: BBC

It all comes down to money, and specifically, future money.

 

The Pensions Regulator in the UK estimated that the railway industry would require an additional £5-6 billion to fill the pension deficit. However, Stagecoach stated that they couldn't bear the "uncontrolled and unmanageable" risks associated with the pension issue.

 

On the other hand, a spokesperson from the Department for Transport (DfT) mentioned that Stagecoach is an experienced bidder and fully aware of the rules of franchise competitions. However, in this bidding process, they disregarded the rules and submitted non-compliant bids. They did so for all railway franchise competitions, including their independent bid for the East Midlands franchise. Therefore, the spokesperson stated that Stagecoach should take responsibility for their disqualification.

Who will take over after Virgin Trains ceases operations?

 

The company that will replace Virgin Trains is Avanti West Coast, a partnership between First Group, headquartered in Aberdeen, and the Italian company Trenitalia.

 

In the image below, the logo of Avanti West Coast is depicted as an orange triangle.

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Source: Avanti West Coast

From December 8, 2019, Avanti West Coast officially took over from Virgin Trains. Please see the promotional image below.

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Source: Avanti West Coast

Here is their promotional video. The pace is quite fast, a bit dizzying. It's true that with a new train comes a new atmosphere. Perhaps they could learn a thing or two from the previous company's videos.

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In the image below, you can see the Avanti West Coast train, with their logo featuring an orange triangle on top.

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On December 8, 2019, Avanti West Coast tweeted a "Bye" emoji GIF to Virgin Trains. Tenliang Miao remarked that it wasn't just a blurry screenshot, but an intentionally blurry GIF emoji. Surprisingly, Avanti West Coast only posted a single dot symbol "." without any accompanying text, mentioning Virgin Trains. It had a somewhat humorous touch to it.

Avanti West Coast officially commenced operations on December 8, 2019, and they have repainted the trains. Now, all the trains have donned a fresh new look.

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Alright, everyone can now experience the new train service in the UK, Avanti West Coast.

。。。