West coast fares could rise to incentivise people ‘to not travel by rail’, UK watchdog says
DfT told to look into lessening demand amid reduced capacity after HS2’s second leg axed
May 2024
Train strikes and traffic jams: UK travellers face delays in coming days
Planned works by Network Rail will force more people on to the roads to join bank holiday getaway, with rail strikes to follow the week after
April 2023
Traffic congestion and rail closures to disrupt UK bank holiday travel
RAC predicts biggest getaway on roads since 2016, and west coast mainline will be partly closed
January 2023
West coast mainline closed north of Carlisle after flood damage
Network Rail says no trains will run between Carlisle and Glasgow until 6 January due to a landslip
November 2022
Want to understand Britain’s decline? Try catching a train in the north of England
John Harris
The recent history of our trains is a hare-brained plunge into underinvestment, privatisation and crony capitalism, says the Guardian columnist John Harris
October 2022
Avanti West Coast and ministers risking Christmas rail chaos, says Labour
Shadow transport secretary seeks assurances over ‘staggering’ situation on west coast mainline
August 2022
Heritage railway takes on Avanti with first class west coast service
Inquiry after Avanti passengers have to scale 2-metre spiked fence to leave station
April 2022
UK rail passengers face ‘disastrous weekend’ of Easter travel disruption
Dozens of services to and from London cancelled, and strike action hits TransPennine Express routes
December 2019
Tilting tech and talking toilets: the good and bad of Virgin Trains
Virgin Trains reaches the end of the line on Saturday. How will it be remembered?
October 2019
Major disruption at Euston station after rush-hour services cancelled
Rail services from the London hub suspended while police dealt with trespassing incident
August 2019
FirstGroup consortium to replace Virgin on west coast mainline
London-Glasgow intercity rail services will be joint venture with Trenitalia from December
June 2019
Coast Capital gets backer in shareholder rebellion at FirstGroup
Columbia Threadneedle has said it will back resolutions to replace board in demand for group’s exit from UK rail
May 2019
Richard Branson calls for suspension of rail franchise competitions
Tycoon hints at legal action over bid disqualification as he urges DfT to be pragmatic
April 2019
The north needs HS2 for its economic future
Letters: Readers, including Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool city region respectively, respond to Simon Jenkins’ article advocating the scrapping of HS2
Business leader
How (gravy) train operators make millions while failing to pay their way
As Virgin gets shunted into the sidelines, it is high time we looked again at the rail franchise system
Branson: Virgin trains will vanish from UK after Stagecoach ban
Founder hits out after DfT disqualifies partner from bidding for three franchises
December 2018
Virgin Trains gets one-year extension to run west coast mainline
Decision to extend operation comes after failure of Virgin Trains East Coast franchise
January 2018
Train privatisation has failed us: it’s time to do things differently
A system in which operators make huge profits without risk while travellers pick up the tab just doesn’t add up
May 2016
Shortcuts
Move down! It's time for rich commuters to travel like the rest of us
A proposal to ease overcrowding on busy trains by reducing first-class seats is being considered on the west coast mainline. Now everyone can enjoy sitting in a footwell by the loo
