Politicians in Greater Manchester have been left dismayed after 'worse than dreadful' Avanti West Coast was given another six months to run rail services. The Department for Transport announced today (October 7) it was giving the under-fire operator until April 2023 to turn things around.
It comes after direct services between London and Manchester were slashed to one an hour this summer due to 'operational difficulties', and the Government admits Avanti's performance has been 'unacceptable'. Passengers have been faced with packed trains and difficulties buying tickets in advance - leading to Andy Burnham demanding an ultimatum for Avanti yesterday.
Following today's announcement, the mayor of Greater Manchester is urging Government to keep a close eye on Avanti's performance every day. And if the company is still found wanting in just over two months' time, Mr Burnham believes Avanti should be stripped of the franchise.
Mr Burnham said: "Putting Avanti West Coast on notice marks a significant shift in tone under the new Secretary of State. At last, there is a clear recognition of the crisis engulfing the country’s most important railway line and the management failure that has led to that.
"However, the lack of an acceptable rescue plan from the company - and clear conditions from the Government - means very few people in Greater Manchester will support this extension. The damage that Avanti’s failing service is inflicting on our economy, and the huge disruption to passengers, is completely unacceptable.
"The company has shown itself to be unable to stabilise their service and fix problems with ticketing and the on-board experience for passengers. The thought of another six months of what we’re currently experiencing is a huge concern.
"From here, Greater Manchester is calling for a new approach from the Government. First, we want day-to-day monitoring and week-to-week public reporting on performance to be introduced.
"Second, we ask the Government to set a review point in mid-December in consultation with Mayors and leaders from London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. If Avanti are still not delivering the full timetable and an acceptable service at that point, that will allow time for arrangements to be made for a new operator to be place from April 2023.”
Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, believes the Government has made the wrong call on Avanti and is urging the DfT to 'get a grip'. She told the M.E.N. : "Time and time again Avanti has let passengers down, cost the taxpayer money and damaged the economy. It's not acceptable that the Government has rewarded chaos and failure.
"The Government must take responsibility in getting a grip on travel between the UK's major cities and act fast. We need a regular, stable and reliable service now between Manchester and London and we cannot wait for it."
Greater Manchester MPs have also expressed their disappointment at the decision. Andrew Gwynne, Labour MP for Denton and Reddish, described Avanti as 'worse than dreadful' with a 'poor and unreliable service'.
He added: "Given their poor performance to date has been allowed without the blink of an eyelid from ministers, while Government hands them millions of pounds in subsidy to perform so badly, I have absolutely no confidence the latest warning will make a jot of difference. Confidence in the West Coast mainline will only come back once Avanti is stripped of the franchise.
"If the Government really wanted to act they'd do just that, and run the West Coast directly, as they do the East Coast services." Navendu Mishra, Labour MP for Stockport, told the M.E.N. : "It is disappointing that Avanti's contract has been extended. By the Government's own admission, the service has been 'unacceptable'.
"At a time when our region is still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and when we need to be reducing pollution, the reduction in service is having a detrimental impact on our economy and creating extra congestion on the roads. People in Stockport deserve far better.
"Avanti should be stripped of the franchise and the service should be brought into public ownership so that it is run for passengers and staff, not private profit." Worsley and Eccles South MP Barbara Keeley also insists the company should be stripped of the franchise.
Insisting the region needs a 'reliable and resilient' service, she added: "Over recent months Avanti has provided an appalling service to the people of Greater Manchester and the North West. Their failing services are affecting both people’s lives and the Greater Manchester economy."
Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, admitted he was 'disappointed' Avanti was given yet more time after its 'shoddy' service. "There are clear indicators on the performance of how the railway should be run and Avanti has failed on that," he said.
"At the same time Government has given them tens of millions of pounds. They should pull the rug from the company - our constituents deserve a proper service."
Former Manchester councillor and current MP for Weaver Vale in Cheshire, Mike Amesbury, tweeted: "Just how c*** do these private train operators need to be?" The move was announced by Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who insisted Avanti would be closely watched over the next six months.
“We need train services which are reliable and resilient to modern day life,” she said. “Services on Avanti have been unacceptable and while the company has taken positive steps to get more trains moving, it must do more to deliver certainty of service to its passengers.
"We have agreed a six-month extension to Avanti to assess whether it is capable of running this crucial route to a standard passengers deserve and expect.” Graham Sutherland is CEO at FirstGroup, which runs Avanti West Coast in partnership with Trenitalia.
Following the announcement, he said: "We are committed to working closely with government and our partners across the industry to deliver a successful railway that serves the needs of our customers and communities. Today’s agreement allows our team at Avanti West Coast to sustain their focus on delivering their robust plan to restore services to the levels that passengers rightly expect."
Avanti insists it is restoring more frequent services between London and Manchester at 'key times of the day', and hopes to have a full timetable of three trains an hour restored in December. It also insists services are becoming more reliable - with one in 30 trains cancelled in the past week compared to one in 13 in mid-July.
Barry Milsom, Executive Director of Operations and Safety for Avanti West Coast, said: “We know we’re not delivering the service our customers rightly expect and we apologise for the enormous frustration and inconvenience this is causing.
“The decision to reduce our timetable in August was not taken lightly but our customers and communities deserve a dependable train service, so we’ve been working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way.
“Resolving this situation required a robust plan that allows us to gradually increase services without being reliant on traincrew overtime. We are now in a position to start delivering this incremental increase in services, followed by a further increase in December. We’ll continue to review our timetable beyond December with our industry partners.
“We’re working with our people, their union representatives, and industry partners to match the resources we have to demand, so we can deliver reliable services across our network to all our customers and communities.
“We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding during this period.”
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