RAIL workers have blasted the “same old privatised nonsense” ahead of a partly Italian firm taking over high-speed services on the West Coast Main Line this weekend.

Virgin Trains’ last Pendolino services will depart on Saturday night, after the company, a joint venture between Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Stagecoach, lost the Inter-City West Coast franchise earlier this year.

In future, services will be provided by Avanti West Coast, a partnership of First Rail and Italian state-owned Trenitalia.