The first train on the West Coast Main Line under its new operator pulled out of Glasgow’s Central Station at 8.25am this morning.

Passengers will have noticed very little difference – a new decal of an elongated triangle on an old train, minor changes to the staff uniforms (a different tie and winter coats), but it will be the same faces delivering the same service.

However, if that service is late, travellers will receive compensation after 15 minutes, rather than the previous 30.

The new franchise holder is Avanti West Coast, a partnership between the Aberdeen-based FirstGroup and Italian state operator, Trenitalia.

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Steve Montgomery, managing director of First Rail said: “We’re delighted to start serving the customers who take 40 million journeys every year on the west coast.

"We’ll bring families, friends, businesses and communities in Glasgow and Scotland closer together with new trains and new destinations. We’re excited to get our plans underway and take services to the next level.”

Orazio Iacono, managing director of Trenitalia said: “We’re honoured to begin operating intercity services on the West Coast Main Line, one of the busiest railways in Europe, that will bring a host of improvements for the millions of people who use it every year. 

"Trenitalia will also be using its skills to help design and manage high speed rail services from North to South in the UK over the next few years.

"The name Avanti was chosen to represent our values and recognises our ten-year experience in the high speed in Italy with 350 million passengers. Quality, dynamism, innovation and future: this is what we want to guarantee for the West Coast mainline service”.

Avanti has pledged to make a series of improvements and innovations, including refurbishment of the existing Pendolino and Super Voyager trains, more seats – the Pendolinos will have 25,000 extra eventually – and 263 more weekly services by 2022, when 23 new trains begin entering service. There is also a pledge to provide better catering and enhanced wifi.

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From December 2022 there will be more stops at Motherwell as well as more Saturday night and Sunday services. The 23 new electric trains – built at a cost of £350 million by Hitachi – will replace the diesel Voyager trains presently linking Glasgow to London via the northwest of England and Birmingham.

There is a new website for bookings and information, and a pledge to improve the booking system, which is notoriously unreliable, as well as the “bigger spend” on trains. First currently has three other rail franchises – Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and TransPennine Express – while Trenitalia runs the Essex Thameside franchise operating from Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street.