The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that it will no longer contest the Judicial Review about how the West Coast Main Line (WCML) franchise was awarded in August.

The has also said that it will compensate all the four bidders for their wasted efforts relating to compiling bids and including the costs of the refranchising team over the last 18 months. The authority as agreed to pay £ 50 million to the bidding firms. It is known that there will be additional cost of operating trains following the completion of the existing agreement on 9 November and also on refranchising the train line later.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that the train will continue to run on the line. He said that either Virgin will be allowed to continue running the trains or the line will be transferred to the Government's Directly Operated Railways (DOR), which will take responsibility of the operating and safety of the line, much like the East Coast Main Line franchise.

Virgin had offered to run the line free of cost until the matter is resolved. However, some leaders might be considering the option of nationalizing the line on a temporary basis. The leaders have raised concerns about how the decision to change the franchise would affect fares and levels of service on the route.