Richard Branson signalled on Wednesday that he would exit the railway business after Virgin Rail Group lost a long-held deal with the British government to run a major route linking London with Glasgow.
The Department for Transport has awarded a new 13-year west coast train franchise to transport firm FirstGroup, which will begin services between England and Scotland from December.
Virgin Rail, which is 51-percent owned by Virgin Group and 49-percent owned by transport firm Stagecoach, has been running the route since 1997, during which time it introduced tilting high-speed Pendolino trains. It is Virgin's only railway franchise as per a AFP report.
"Based on the current flawed system, it is extremely unlikely that we would bid again for a franchise. The process is too costly and uncertain," the British tycoon added in a statement.
Branson described the decision to hand the network to FirstGroup as "extremely disappointing for Virgin, and for our staff that have worked so hard to transform this railway over the last 15 years". He added that under Virgin, "the West Coast Mainline has been transformed from a public liability into a valuable asset for the UK, worth many billions of pounds."
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