An under fire train operator for services between Manchester and London is set to have its contract renewed despite fierce criticism in recent months, according to reports. Avanti West Coast is set to have its contract for the west coast mainline route renewed, The Sunday Times says, despite slashing its services and being told it was in 'last chance saloon' by Mayor Andy Burnham.
The firm's boss, Phil Whittingham, is set to leave his post soon after severe criticism from passengers and politicians after slashing its timetabled services. Only one train is running per hour between Manchester and London after the operator slashed services which the company blamed on striking workers and more. These claims have been consistently rubbished by Mr Burnham.
The lack of services has led to chaos on these trains, according to many passengers, with seats double booked and crowds of stampeding passengers, especially at London Euston. Last week Mr Burnham said he would call for Avanti's contract to be terminated unless it restores full services across Greater Manchester, or at the very least urgent intervention from the transport secretary, Grant Shapps.
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However, The Sunday Times is reporting today that the government is set to support it with a 'new long-term contract' to continue running the line it took over from Virgin in 2019. Grant Shapps is believed to support Avanti's view that trade unions have been driving problems with scheduling, not relying on drivers voluntarily taking up overtime to make up a bulk of its schedule.
Grant Shapps believes handing control of the West Coast Mainline to the government, which is currently in place for the East Coast Main Line and Southeastern rail services, would be seen as 'handing victory to the unions', The Sunday Times says. This is despite passengers struggling to buy any kind of tickets for the trains, even on a reduced timetable, and with no indication of when services may be back to normal.
Yesterday, September 3, Mr Burnham said: "Avanti West Coast has failed to deliver on their commitment to explain how they will restore services between Manchester and London and failed to bring the stability to the timetable which they promised. Every day that this continues is a day of damage to the Greater Manchester economy and it cannot be allowed to continue.
“Weeks ago, the company tried to blame their workers for the problems. However, their inability to produce a rescue plan by the deadline we set has flushed out the truth - it is managers, not the workers, who are responsible for the chaos. In their desperation to blame the unions for everything, the government has let this company off the hook and let passengers down.
“This is a company being paid millions of pounds to operate trains on the West Coast Main Line but is only delivering a threadbare service and a very poor one at that. They have to be held to account. So far, Greater Manchester has been doing that alone, but I am now urging the incoming Prime Minister and Transport Secretary to sit down with us and sort this out. This service is critical to our country’s economy and we need to fix it together.
“For Avanti, this is the last chance saloon. They need to understand the urgency of the situation. They should today be making a full public apology for their failures and providing a detailed explanation of the steps they are taking to fix things. Anything less is further evidence that they don’t deserve the privilege of running the UK’s most important train line."
Avanti responded yesterday saying: "Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us gradually to increase services without being reliant on train crew overtime, which has fallen."
John Stewart, chairman of the Campaign for Better Transport, told The Sunday Times: “This is an off-the-scale disaster for passengers. Unlike a strike, passengers have not been able to prepare for this and between Manchester and London there are no realistic alternative rail routes.”
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, the independent watchdog, described the situation as “chickens are coming home to roost.” He added that he had received many complaints from passengers about poor information and booking problems.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said yesterday: “People deserve certainty and confidence that their train will run on time, and while the change of schedule was unavoidable, it should minimise the fallout for passengers.
“This is a prime example of why we need to modernise our railways, so passengers benefit from reliable timetables that don’t rely on the goodwill of drivers volunteering to work overtime in the first place. As with all contract awards, Government will consider all options when Avanti West Coast’s contract expires on 16 October.”
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