set in 1981 by the Pendolino's ancestor, British Rail's Advanced Passenger Train (APT). In June 2021, another record-breaking attempt was made with a Pendolino, this time in the northbound direction. The Pendolino made the journey in 3hours, 53minutes, 1second; faster than the 2006 Pendolino run, but narrowly missing the APT's northbound record, which stands at 3hours, 52minutes, 40seconds. Fleet developments Additional capacity Following a large increase in passenger numbers following the WCML modernisation, the Department for Transport announced a capacity increase by procuring additional units (with one intended to replace the unit damaged at Grayrigg). Four new units have been built with 11 cars, and 31 existing units lengthened to 11 cars. This required major changes to stations and depots to accommodate the 11-car units. Virgin Rail Projects was set up to introduce these new trains with the new franchise winner as well as Alstom, Network Rail and the current franchise holder, Virgin Trains West Coast, to ensure the new units were able to run from 1 April 2012. Because Washwood Heath works had closed, the additional vehicles were manufactured in Alstom's Savigliano factory in Italy. The first new units were built with 11 cars and delivered via the Channel Tunnel to Edge Hill. The first was accepted on 12 July 2011. In March 2012, unit 390055 operated a test run on the East Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to London King's Cross. With the franchise process in place, and Virgin Trains' franchise extended until December 2012, the first 11-car unit (390156) entered service on 5 April 2012. The remaining new units were brought into service, and 31 units increased to 11 carriages, over the next eight months. The lengthening project was completed in December 2012. Reconfiguration of nine-car units As part of the subsequent extension of the franchise until April 2017, Virgin Trains made further enhancements to the Pendolinos. The 21 nine-car units each had one first class carriage converted to standard class. This work was completed by September 2015. Proposed order by Alliance Rail Operations In its successful submission to operate services from London Euston to , Alliance Rail Holdings proposed purchasing four Class 390s for entry into service in 2018. However, as the 390s no longer met crashworthiness standards for new trains, a derogation would have been required. With Alliance Rail not able to obtain this, in June 2017 it dropped its plans to purchase 390s. Avanti