Reports this morning suggest that the underfire train operator Avanti are to be given an extra six months to run services on the West Coast Mainline.
The government say their performance is ‘steadily improving’ and the contract is now due to expire in October
It’s been heavily criticised by passengers and MPs in the past year for poor service and running a hugely reduced timetable which saw at one point just one train an hour running from Manchester to London
The Government says that the operator is now running 40 per cent more services and cancellations have fallen to just 4.2 per cent
Transport Secretary, Mark Harper said:
The routes Avanti West Coast run are absolutely vital, and I fully understand the frustrations passengers felt at the completely unacceptable services seen last Autumn. Following our intervention, Rail Minister Huw Merriman and I have worked closely with local leaders to put a robust plan in place, which I’m glad to see is working.
However, there is still more work to be done to bring services up to the standards we expect, which is why over this next 6 months further improvements will need to be made by Avanti West Coast.
Although Avanti West Coast has made significant progress in the past 6 months, further work needs to be done to restore reliability and punctuality to the standards that passengers rightly expect. This will include delivering more reliable weekend services, continued reductions in cancellations and improvements in passenger information during planned and unplanned disruption.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “This rail service is of critical importance to the economy of Greater Manchester, but the performance from Avanti is still not good enough. That’s why this decision to extend the contract will be met with disappointment here and across the North West. Some improvements have been made but there are still persistent issues, such as the difficulty in booking tickets in advance. Even today passengers still cannot book tickets for the end of next month or indeed for the bank holidays in early May.
“The fact that the Government has only permitted a six-month extension to Avanti’s contract highlights that Ministers clearly recognise that further improvements are required. Most people in the North West would have wanted this contract to be removed today. The time for excuses has passed – they either improve or hand back the franchise.”
