Virgin Trains has won the contract to continue running the west coast mainline rail franchise.
The Department of Transport said the company would pay more than GBP430 million to operate the route with joint venture partner Stagecoach. It will run the route from 22 June through to the end of March 2018.
Under the agreement Virgin trains will provide more standard seats by taking out first class on several trains and will also install faster WiFi on all its trains.
More than GBP20 million will also be spent on waiting rooms, seats and shelters, while new direct services from Shrewsbury and Blackpool to London will be launched.
Virgin Trains has been operating the franchise since 1997 but fell out with the DfT in 2012 when it initially awarded the service to FirstGroup.
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