Avanti West Coast Begins Painting Over Virgin Trains

There's a new rail franchise dealing with our complaints about the Wi-Fi not working and the toilets oozing piss and bleach out into the corridors today, with Avanti West Coast taking over the business of running what was once the Virgin Trains line between London and Scotland.

As many as two trains have received the new Avanti paint/decals overhaul so far, a refresh that rail enthusiasts are describing as a bit boring and a bit British Rail – and Virgin took all the train name plates with them too – but it will probably do. The first of these newly liveried trains departed from London Euston yesterday morning, and did a fine PR job for the line all the way up to Manchester, as staff explained to local press that the triangle is not an entirely random design phenomenon; it represents the points on the map of the line's main terminals.

Inevitably, people were complaining at Avanti from the very off. The Wi-Fi on the 7:20am departure today didn't work and the new booking site doesn't let people pick specific seats, nor does the new operator's app mirror Virgin's platform reminder text system. At least Avanti has the Delay repay site up and ready for action. [Twitter]