Published on December 08, 2020
Happy 1 year Anniversary Avanti West Coast
We can’t believe it’s a year to the day since we were invited by Avanti West Coast, the operator of the West Coast rail franchise, to document their maiden journey from London Euston to Glasgow Central.
Our Creative Director, Graham Forbes, looks back and reflects on the day he joined the maiden journey and coordinated the filming with the on-board crew and drone pilot capturing some amazing aerial footage as the train went through London and Lancaster.

The day began with a breakfast reception at the Royal College of General Practitioners where the vision for the future of the network was mapped out to a select audience of colleagues, leaders and stakeholders.
From there it was a short walk to Euston Station where the newly liveried train was greeted with much excitement as it rolled into platform 3. We were among the first on the platform, capturing the building excitement of this momentous event as staff and executives started to arrive. After a short naming ceremony, our journey north commenced.
On the train, we spoke to Avanti and Trenitallia executives who spoke with great enthusiasm about the success of the launch and their plans for the future. At the various stations along the route, we conducted interviews with Avanti’s frontline teams in their new uniforms, proudly telling us what this maiden voyage meant to them.
Relive Avanti West Coast launch day
The celebrations came to a head-on arrival at Glasgow Central where a bagpiper in full ceremonial dress was there to greet everyone from the train with the unmistakable anthem of Flower of Scotland.
The day was a great success and the highlights video we produced is testament to all the hard work that everyone at Avanti put in ahead of the launch a year ago today.
I am sure that all the Avanti staff are still as proud of the service a year on albeit I can’t imagine any of the Avanti team quite imagined the challenging year 2020 turned out to be for the world, country and its rail passengers; we hope 2021 brings back some normality for the thousands of passengers who use the West Coast rail service each and every day.
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Graham Forbes.
Creative Director