Stagecoach banned

DfT disqualifies Stagecoach from bidding for franchises over funding of railway pensions.

May 1992: Becomes first private operator on the UK main line network, running a pair of Mk 2 day coaches in Stagecoach colours on the London-Aberdeen Sleeper service. The experiment is abandoned within a year. February 1996: Operates the first train in the modern privatisation era, as the franchise holder of South West Trains. October 1996: Takes on Isle of Wight operations as the tiny Island Line franchise. 1997: Takes over operation of the Sheffield Supertram system. October 1998: Acquires a 49% stake in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the InterCity West Coast and InterCity CrossCountry franchises. February 2007: Island Line is merged with South West Trains as part of a ten-year extension to the latter franchise. July 2007: Takes over operation of Manchester Metrolink on a ten-year management contract. November 2007: InterCity CrossCountry franchise is taken over by Arriva. November 2007: Stagecoach begins operation of the East Midlands Trains franchise, taking over from National Express. August 2011: Stagecoach sells its Manchester Metrolink business to RATP Group. March 2015: Stagecoach and Virgin begin operating the InterCity East Coast franchise (Virgin Trains East Coast). Stagecoach has a 90% stake in the operation. August 2017: South Western Railway succeeds Stagecoach as operator of the South West Trains franchise, rebranding as South Western Railway. November 2017: Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announces that the Virgin Trains

East Coast franchise will be terminated three years early, in 2020.

June 2018: The Government’s Operator of Last Resort takes over from Virgin Trains East Coast. April 2019: Stagecoach’s bids for the East Midlands Railway, West Coast Partnership and Southeastern franchises are rejected by the Department for Transport for “non-compliance”. June 2019: West Coast Partnership franchise expected to be awarded, potentially bringing to an end 21 years of Stagecoach’s involvement on the West Coast Main Line. August 2019: Abellio to succeed Stagecoach as operator of the East Midlands Railway franchise. ???: A new operator (to be confirmed) succeeds Virgin Rail Group as operator of the InterCity West Coast’s successor West Coast Partnership franchise.