page_title: Virgin CrossCountry
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Virgin CrossCountry / History
caption_attribution_description: English: I took the picture of this Virgin Trains' carrage myself at Banbury station in the year 2001. I hereby release it in to the public domain.
context_page_description: Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in the United Kingdom but most avoided Greater London after 2003. All services called or terminated at Birmingham New Street.
  The company traded under the Virgin Trains brand, along with the InterCity West Coast franchise, however the two franchises were operated by separate legal entities.
context_section_description: Virgin Rail Group was awarded the InterCity CrossCountry franchise in November 1996, with operations commencing on 5 January 1997. Services were operated by a wholly owned subsidiary, CrossCountry Trains Limited.
  In October 1998, Virgin Group sold 49% of the shares in Virgin Rail Group to Stagecoach.
  In the wake of the collapse of Railtrack and the inability of Network Rail to deliver on the 140 mph West Coast Main Line upgrade, both the Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast franchises were suspended in favour of management contracts in July 2002.
caption: Mark 2 carriage at Banbury in 2001
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