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New East Coast livery to be unveiled in Edinburgh as Stagecoach-Virgin group take over rail franchise

PASSENGERS travelling on the East Coast Main Line will get their first glimpse of the franchise's new livery on Monday when a Virgin branded train completes its inaugural journey from London to Scotland.

The East Coast franchise makes its controversial move back to the private sector tomorrow when Inter-City Rail (ICR), a Stagecoach-Virgin consortium, will begin running services on the route.

Although Stagecoach is the majority stakeholder, the fleet will carry the Virgin brand and the eight-year franchise will operate as Virgin Trains East Coast.

Customers boarding trains north and south tomorrow, however, are unlikely to notice any visible difference in the rolling stock.

As a short-term fix, the new franchise holders plan to decorate the front and sides of as many East Coast trains as possible with the Virgin logo and distinctive red stripe as a "nod" to the new owners.

Wholescale rebranding of the fleet, inside and out, will be carried out gradually over the coming months.

However, train-spotters and passengers will get first sight of the design on Monday when the only fully liveried Virgin East Coast train pulls into Edinburgh Waverley after completing its inaugural journey from London.

The train is scheduled to depart King's Cross at 11am, calling at York, Darlington, Newcastle and Berwick-upon-Tweed before arriving in Scottish capital at 3.20pm.

David Horne, the managing director of Virgin Trains East Coast, will be among those on board, along with colleagues from the new operator's senior leadership team.

The Department for Transport has faced criticism over the decision to re-privatise the franchise. East Coast has been in state ownership since November 2009 after the then operator National Express attempted to buy itself out of the franchise, which was losing money and passengers.

Opponents say it has generated ^1 billion for the exchequer over the last five years and should remain in public hands.

The new franchise-holders have already run into trouble with the industry's competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned there was a "realistic prospect" of higher fares or reduced service quality on sections of the route which overlap with existing Stagecoach-run services, such as the Edinburgh to Aberdeen tranche which is also covered by Citylink buses.

There has also been mounting disquiet from campaigners over the decision to replace the generous East Coast Rewards loyalty club with a Nectar points scheme that offers customers poorer value for money.

For its part, the Stagecoach-Virgin consortium have promised to cut journey times between London and Edinburgh to four hours from 2019 and invest ^140m in improving the service.

During the first two years, the group has pledged to spend ^13.4m revamping the existing train fleet, including a "deep clean" of the entire rolling stock, refurbished toilets, new carpets and seat covers, and new on-train signage.

Extra weekday services between Edinburgh and London are planned from May 2016, with half-hourly frequency for most of the day and an additional Sunday service

From 2018, it will introduce 65 new Super Express trains with free on-board WiFi and at seat meals for all passengers, along with an app that allows passengers to order a meal to their seat before or during the journey.

New timetables in May 2019 will see the launch of an express Edinburgh to London service on weekdays, calling only at Newcastle. At four hours, it will be 20 minutes quicker than the current fastest service between the two cities.

There will also be a 50 per cent increase in capacity across the franchise by 2020, taking the total number of seats to 12,200, along with the addition of 500 extra car parking spaces and 50 per cent more cycle storage along the route.

New timetables in May 2019 will see the launch of an express Edinburgh to London service on weekdays, calling only at Newcastle. At four hours, it will be 20 minutes quicker than the current fastest service between the two cities.

I was reading only yesterday about East Coast Main Line TOC having earned certification to become one of the 'Top Employers UK 2015'.  (All excel in terms of employee benefits, training and development, career development and culture management).  Interestingly, Virgin is NOT on the list.  I hope they don't exert a negative influence on East coast.  More information at www.top-employers.com

I don't understand why all the livery has to change to reflect Virgins 10% investment.  It seems to me like a company winning investment in the Dragons' Den having to rename their business 'Peter Jones' Sausage Machine' or whatever.   I hope Virgin is funding the new graphics. 

Some Class 91 locos have already got a temporary 'Virgin' vinyl:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/richardholmesphotography/16677498975/in/photostream/

Virgin Trains East Coast is now part of the Virgin family, alongside our sister company, over on the West Coast, Virgin Trains. The two will run as separate operations, but they^ll have the same Virgin sparkle.

Virgin Trains East Coast runs services to and from London King^s Cross (on the East Coast Main Line) to Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and more. Virgin Trains goes to and from London Euston (along the West Coast Main Line). Easy huh?

Keep in mind that the normal ticket restrictions still apply. That means tickets identified as Virgin Trains East Coast are valid on Virgin Trains East Coast services on the East Coast Main Line only (so no cheeky hopping on Virgin Trains services and vice versa - nice try!). Please check before you buy and if needed, take a peep at our usual terms and conditions.

As reported before, Virgin Trains itself is 51% Branson and 49% Stagecoach, making the true "Virgin" exposure of East Coast 5.1% overall.

The flip side being, there is a large percentage of his businesses outside of his control that could harm the whole Virgin image.

Been a lot of unhappy East Coast customers, myself included, who were members of the excellent East Coast Rewards which has been replaced by Nectar.

I now have big concerns for the future for ICEC and ICWC. Both currently operated by Virgin... Where is the incentive for competition? Not to mention Megabus and Stagecoach' Scottish Coach Services...

The full new livery on the 1100 KGX-ABD today:
(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/VTECKGX_zpsawda50la.jpg)

This is bona fide nuts. If you're going to distinguish between the two franchises, call one "Virgin Trains East Coast" and one "Virgin Trains West Coast". Not "Virgin Trains East Coast" and "Virgin Trains".

Interestingly this evening the iTunes store has offered me an upgrade to the National Rail Enquiries app.

Two of the stated enhancements are
East Coast becomes Virgin Trains East Coast
Virgin Trains becomes Virgin Trains West Coast

I'm confused. I thought that new franchises now had a standard livery with just the operators logo attached ie Thameslink and possibly Abellio. Did I imagine reading / hearing about this?

The full new livery on the 1100 KGX-EDB today:
Looks okay but I still much prefer the original Class 91/225 set livery:

I've yet to fully run through the options available to me prior to the September cut off date but it doesn't sound good from the above.

Having reviewed the options I can understand the disgruntlement. The new scheme is pants. The three options that I can see are:

Silly question - electric to ABERDEEN ??

You'd be surprised what's possible if you put your mind to it.

With the LNE main line closed on Saturdays in March, all the EC trains are going through Spalding on the GNGE. And that includes some that are electric-hauled! At least, that's what it says on Realtime Trains, so it must be true...