At a Transport for the North (TfN) board meeting in Leeds yesterday (March 20), a motion was officially passed to write to the Secretary of State asking for Avanti West Coast to be taken off the key West Coast Main Line route “at the earliest possible opportunity.”
The vote came after a report to the board stated that “a continuation of the current situation is unacceptable to the North.”
FirstGroup, which owns Avanti West Coast in partnership with Trenitalia, stated that its team is working hard to “deliver the service that customers expect” – adding that removing the operator would do nothing to address the “fundamental issues” affecting this service.
Two options were considered by the TfN board – to set a target for improvement by June or face ‘further measures’ or to terminate the contract straight away. After hearing from First Rail’s Managing Director Steve Montgomery, the board opted to take immediate action.
Transport for the North said that it would now write to the Secretary of State for Transport that Avanti West Coast’s contract should be terminated at the earliest possible opportunity, with the Operator of Last Resort taking on responsibility in the short term for the delivery of long-distance services on the West Coast Main Line.
In December, TfN wrote to the Transport Secretary asking him to instruct officials to conduct a critical review into Avanti West Coast’s operation given what it called “deteriorating service”. This came after the operator announced a number of service cuts over the Christmas period.
Responding to today’s decision, Lord McLoughlin Transport for the North Chair said: “Today’s board was very clear. The performance on the West Coast Main Line by Avanti has been so poor, for so long that action now must be taken.
“We will be writing statutory advice today to the Secretary of State calling for Avanti to be relieved of its contract. The travelling public deserve a service they can rely on. But Avanti has fallen far too short of expectations for far too long now.”
A FirstGroup spokesperson commented: “Our team at Avanti West Coast, and everyone connected with the train operator, are all working hard with a singular focus on delivering the service that customers expect. In recent months the service has been below expectations on some days, for a variety of reasons including driver unavailability due to historic leave policies as well as elevated sickness levels. Changing the operator won’t affect these fundamental issues affecting the service, which is why it is vital that we continue working with trade unions with whom we have had recent positive discussions, and continue working with Government and other stakeholders on our plans to deliver long-term improvements in customer experience, resilience and a new fleet.”
The company added that Avanti West Coast had more drivers than ever before, and had made recent changes to improve rosters. It stated that it had also invested in unprecedented levels of recruitment and training, as well as negotiating changes in historical leave arrangements. The aim of these measures is to reduce resource volatility, improve operational resilience, and help to create more stability.
It also explained that Avanti West Coast had recently agreed an incremental use of rest day working with ASLEF. This is expected to prove helpful, particularly in the context of the introduction of its Hitachi trains. The rollout will involve 2,500 training days, taking drivers away from passenger services for around two weeks at a time. Avanti West Coast said it is working with ASLEF to deliver this programme in a way that supports overall operational resilience.
