An Avanti boss has apologised for the rail operator's 'terrible' service but insisted they are the right company to run the operations during a gruelling interview this morning.
Richard Scott, Avanti West Coast 's director of corporate affairs, joined Nick Robinson on Radio 4's 'Today' programme to face questions about the company's 'appalling' service between London and Manchester - which has seen timetables slashed in recent months.
The BBC host quizzed Mr Scott on whether Avanti was the 'worst service in the country' and asked why the rail operator, who took over the west coast mainline trains from Virgin in 2019, deserved the six months they have been given by the government to 'sort itself out'.
READ MORE: Customers say they are STILL struggling for tickets as the clock ticks on Avanti West Coast
"I'm broadcasting from the great city of Manchester today, well more precisely the neighbouring city of Salford, and if you want to hear people get really angry up here, you only have to say one word: Avanti," Mr Robinson said, before playing several clips of disgruntled passengers at Manchester Piccadilly.
"I've come from London Euston, two of the trains were cancelled, so three lots of passengers getting on one train," one said, while another said the service was unreliable and 'uncomfortable'.
Mr Robinson asked Mr Scott whether transport minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan's blasting of Avanti services as 'terrible' was a 'good word'.
"Well, we know we're not good enough at the moment, Nick, we haven't been good enough over the last few weeks, and we're still not good enough at the moment," Mr Scott replied. "But we are making progress. We have put in extra services above the base timetable, that started in August.
"We're incrementally adding more services over the coming weeks, and the level of cancellations as a percentage of our service is falling. So we're not there yet, but we are making progress, and the important date that we're working towards is in December when we get to a timetable step-up, a significant step-up in our timetable, and this will restore a near-normal service on our network."
Mr Robinson slammed Avanti as 'objectively the worst line in the country' according to data about trains that don't run, and asked why the situation was 'so much worse' than on any other rail lines.
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Mr Scott said he was 'very, very sorry' for the current state of Avanti services, and admitted that they are 'letting our customers down' and 'not giving the communities that we serve the service they deserve'. However, he said he 'didn't recognise' descriptions of Avanti as 'the worst line in the country', saying they receive the most scrutiny because they are 'the most high-profile line'.
"I don't recognise that description. We are working through a very acute set of problems at the moment that we are facing, and we are making progress on it," Mr Scott told the 'Today' programme.
"We will get back to a robust, sustainable timetable that is not dependent on overtime, that is not dependent on rest day working. We'll be the only train company in the country that has that robust base timetable, it is difficult at the moment and I apologise again to our customers, but once we get through this we will have a sustainable robust service againf ro our customers and communities."
Mr Scott insisted that Avanti had a 'pipeline' of 100 new drivers coming out of training in a move that he said will allow the operator to get back to a 'near-normal' timetable 'soon' - with services from Manchester set to return to three trains an hour and run 'completely normally'.
"It takes about 18 months to train a driver, we had to suspend driver training for the best part of two years during the pandemic, that does make things difficult, but we've got 100 drivers coming out of training over the months that have just gone and coming up to Christmas. That will support our timetable set-up, and we'll get back to a near-normal timetable soon."
He confirmed Liverpool, Scotland and Wales will also see a complete return to normal timetables, while Birmingham is set to see two trains an hour, and three in peak hours, which he called 'near-normal'.
When asked why Avanti shouldn't have its contract taken away by the government, Scott insisted the company will 'get back to the service people deserve'.
"We're working extremely hard, there is no stone being left unturned, the entire business is focused on this. We have the expertise to turn this around, and we will turn it around for our passengers and our customers and our communities."
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