1997: Virgin Rail, a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains and Stagecoach, begins running the West Coast Main Line.
2011: The Department for Transport (DfT) invites bids from groups interested in the franchise when Virgin's contract expires in December 2012. There are bids from Dutch train firm Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Virgin and First West Coast, a subsidiary rail operator of FirstGroup. There is a joint bid from French transport group Keolis and state-owned rail firm SNCF.
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