Avanti West Coast

Avanti West Coast is a British train operating company. It operates the West Coast Partnership franchise and has done since 8 December 2019, where it took over from Virgin Trains.

The company is owned by Scottish-based company FirstGroup and Italian company Trenitalia.

"Avanti" means "Forward" in Italian.

It currently operates services mainly up the West Coast Main Line. These services are between London and various other towns and cities around Great Britain. These include direct trains to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Chester and Blackpool. They also operate services between London and Holyhead, Wrexham or Bangor in North Wales.

There were plans for future services to Walsall, Llandudno Junction and the village of Gobowen in Shropshire from 2022.

Journeys with Avanti were very popular with commuters as the trains do not call at every station and only stop at some stations along their route. However, due to this, tickets for travel with them can be expensive. They were badly affected by the 2022–2023 United Kingdom railway strikes. There was often only one train an hour when there should have been three. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said he would ask the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to take the contract off Avanti West Coast.^[1]

1. ↑ Britton, Paul (2022-08-26). "Andy Burnham reveals 'dangerous stampedes' for trains from London to Manchester". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2023-12-02.