Virgin Cross Country

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Virgin Trains operated the Cross County franchise from 5th January 1997 until 10th November 2007.

There were two main routes south to England, from both Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central.
  • East Coast route to Birmingham via York, Leeds (or Doncaster) and Sheffield and Derby
  • West Coast route to Birmingham via Carlisle, Preston, Crewe, Stafford. Also to Manchester Piccadilly via Preston

Trains running south of Birmingham continued:
  • South to Reading, Southampton and Bournemouth; or
  • South West to Bristol, Plymouth and Penzance (also Newquay in the summer).

North of Edinburgh, Cross Country served Aberdeen (1 train) and Dundee (2 trains).

Virgin Cross Country and Virgin West Coast both used the Virgin Trains brand.

Rolling Stock

Virgin inherited a fleet of HSTs and Class 86 hauled Mk2 coaches from British Rail.

This fleet was complete replaced by new Class 220 Voyager and Class 221 Super-Voyager trains, entering service from 2001 to 2003.

Prior to the introduction of Voyager trains, Cross Country also ran Class 158 units from Scotland to Manchester Airport and Liverpool.

During summer weekends Virgin Cross County hired in HSTs from other operators such as GNER.

Daily operation of HSTs ended on 27th September 2003.

Class 220 Names

NumberDMFLMSLRMSDMSL DepotOperatorLiveryName
22000160401607016020160301CZXCVSSomerset Voyager
22000260402607026020260302CZXCVSForth Voyager
22000360403607036020360303CZXCVSSolent Voyager
22000460404607046020460304CZXCVSCumbrian Voyager
22000560405607056020560305CZXCVSGuildford Voyager
22000660406607066020660306CZXCVSClyde Voyager
22000760407607076020760307CZXCVSThames Voyager
22000860408607086020860308CZXCVS Draig Gymreig / Welsh Dragon
22000960409607096020960309CZXCVSGatwick Voyager
22001060410607106021060310CZXCVSRibble Voyager
22001160411607116021160311CZXCVSTyne Voyager
22001260412607126021260312CZXCVSLanarkshire Voyager
22001360413607136021360313CZXCVSGwibiwr De Cymru / South Wales Voyager
22001460414607146021460314CZXCVSSouth Yorkshire Voyager
22001560415607156021560315CZXCVSSolway Voyager
22001660416607166021660316CZXCVSMidland Voyager
22001760417607176021760317CZXCXCBOMBARDIER Voyager
22001860418607186021860318CZXCVSDorset Voyager
22001960419607196021960319CZXCVSMersey Voyager
22002060420607206022060320CZXCVSWessex Voyager
22002160421607216022160321CZXCVSStaffordshire Voyager
22002260422607226022260322CZXCVSBrighton Voyager
22002360423607236022360323CZXCVSMancunian Voyager
22002460424607246022460324CZXCVSSheffield Voyager
22002560425607256022560325CZXCVSSevern Voyager
22002660426607266022660326CZXCVSStagecoach Voyager
22002760427607276022760327CZXCVSAvon Voyager
22002860428607286022860328CZXCVSBlack Country Voyager==
22002960429607296022960329CZXCVSCornish Voyager
22003060430607306023060330CZXCVSDevon Voyager
22003160431607316023160301CZXCVSTay Voyager
22003260432607326023260302CZXCVSGrampian Voyager
22003360433607336023360333CZXCVSFife Voyager
22003460434607346023460334CZXCVSYorkshire Voyager


The End of the Franchise

Virgin CrossCountry were replaced in November 2007 with Arriva CrossCountry (XC).

The Department for Transport is transferred the WCML trains serving Birmingham to the Virgin West Coast franchise and Scotland to Manchester trains to the First TransPennine Express franchise from December 2007.

External Links:
Created by scot-rail admin and last modified by Alan at 19:53, 29 of June 2009.