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.

The new operator has awarded Hitachi a £350 million contract to build 23 new trains, which, it says, will be quieter, larger and include free Wi-Fi and USB sockets.

First Rail managing director Steve Montgomery said: “We look forward to beginning our Avanti West Coast services on Sunday, and these new trains will help us really improve travel for passengers with more services, more seats, a better journey experience, enhanced catering and added comfort.”

They are expected to enter service from 2022.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash dismissed the change of operator as meaningless, saying: “However they dress it up, this is the same old privatised nonsense with a fresh lick of paint and a new livery.

“The only long-term solution to the great rail rip-off is public ownership and it is frankly disgusting that the public route wasn’t even considered by the Tories when Virgin were banned from the railway.

“As ever on the private rail franchise merry-go-round, this is very much “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” for RMT and we will take whatever action is required to defend our members jobs, pay and conditions.”

Virgin Trains has confirmed that all train tickets bought before December 8 will remain valid.