Avanti has been given another six months to run the west coast mainline rail service — but has been warned it must increase the frequency of services.
The Department for Transport’s decision to give the firm until April to turn things around comes despite ministers accepting services have been ‘unacceptable’. Yesterday (October 6) Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he would not accept a service below two trains per hour.
Over the summer, Avanti reduced trains to one per hour from the second city to London due to ‘operational difficulties’, the government said. To overcome these issues, an improvement plan has been put in place, transport minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said.
