Virgin Trains lost its lucrative West Coast mainline franchise yesterday and its boss, Sir Richard Branson, immediately predicted the winning rail operator would ‘go bankrupt’ as a result. Virgin Trains has run the service from London to Scotland for 14 years, but was beaten by FirstGroup in a bidding process the tycoon described as ‘insane’. Sir Richard said the winning £6.5billion deal was ‘verging on suicidal’ and vowed never to bid for a rail franchise again unless David Cameron personally apologises to him. Scroll down for video Blow: Sir Richard Branson's train company has lost its West Coast franchise but has today vowed to run it for free if Labour manages to halt the contract being signed by FirstGroup tomorrow
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FirstGroup will take over the route from London to Scotland in December
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It said its bid was £5.5bn but it has now emerged that it's closer to £7bn
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RMT union warns of cuts to jobs, passenger services and rising prices
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It said decision lays bare the 'whole sordid enterprise' of rail privatisation
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Taxpayers are subsidising the railways by £3bn a year more than in 1994
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Sir Richard said the government was 'taking a risk' with the new contract
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He threatened to quit trains and said the bidding system was 'flawed'
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