Working with FirstGroup and Trenitalia

WCPD is part of the West Coast Partnership, a joint-venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia – split at 70% and 30% respectively.

FirstGroup bring decades of experience in running railways in the UK, with a current portfolio that includes Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, Lumo, and South Western Railway. They have a long-standing working relationship with Hitachi Rail – who are building the new high-speed train fleet alongside Alstom. Since 2017, FirstGroup and Hitachi Rail have introduced new Class 800 train fleets with Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, Lumo and from this year Avanti West Coast. In addition, Alstom built and maintain Avanti West Coast’s Pendolino trains.

Our partnership working with Trenitalia is essential to WCPD in designing, shaping and developing future high-speed rail in the UK. Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy, boasting over 20 years of experience in running high-speed services. They bring extensive knowledge in designing and delivering new trains, most notably their ETR1000 trains which were built by Hitachi Rail and Alstom. These trains are the identity of Trenitalia’s high-speed rail service, Frecciarossa – which translates as “red arrow”. This provides a benchmark for WCPD as we work to design our own service and brand which will operate on the new HS2 railway and deliver improved customer experience for UK high-speed customers.