Avanti 'will not lose UK West Coast rail line' despite calls for contract to be ended by northern leaders
Avanti 'will not lose the UK West Coast rail line' despite calls for its contract to be ended by northern leaders, it has been reported.
Earlier this year, northern mayors and council leaders voted for Avanti West Coast to lose its contract, with the Transport for the North (TfN) board unanimously backing the move to formally call for the rail operator's contract to be terminated 'at the earliest possible opportunity'.
Calls were made for the operation of the route, connecting London to northern cities including Manchester and Liverpool, to be nationalised due to poor performance and cancellations.
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Legal advice provided to the Department for Transport (DfT) has since concluded that the operator was not in breach of its performance obligations, the Financial Times has reported.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham previously wrote to Transport Secretary Louise Haigh to recommend the cancellation of Avanti West Coast’s contract, saying that 'current performance is unacceptable across a number of operators', but that there were 'specific issues' with Avanti.
The Labour mayor has accused the operator of 'pointing here, there and everywhere', by blaming its poor service on industry-wide issues. He cited statistics which show that Avanti is one of the worst operators in the country when it comes to cancellations and delays.
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures show Avanti West Coast had the third worst reliability of all operators in Britain in the year to the end of March, with the equivalent of one in 15 trains (6.9 per cent) cancelled.
Data from the ORR detailing passenger rail performance between January and March 2024, also revealed that 44.5 per cent of Avanti West Coast services arrived on time, in comparison to an industry average of 68.3 per cent.
In a fiery exchange with the rail operator's representatives, Mr Burnham asked what the organisation has got wrong and what it will do to change them. Mr Montgomery said Avanti is 'rebuilding relationships', before saying: "First group has not done anything wrong."
Responding, Mr Burnham said: "First group has not done anything wrong? I'm sorry, you're in denial. You're not fixing issues on the most important railway line in the country."
The Financial Times has now reported that a source familiar with the findings said the company’s most recent contract had 'rewarded failure' and written in a way that would make it difficult for the company to breach on its performance.
The news outlet reported that two people with knowledge of the matter said that the earliest contract end date was likely to be 2027.
Earlier this year, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh accused Avanti West Coast during the General Election campaign of providing a 'woeful service' and said Labour would consider stripping the firm of its contract for the service, running from London up to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbria and Glasgow.
And on Tuesday (September 24), Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer championed the railway services bill as 'bringing railways back into public ownership' in his speech to the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
Previously, a DfT spokesperson said: "Stripping Avanti’s contract would just cause more upheaval for passengers rather than solving the challenges the operator is facing. These include restrictive working practices that can’t be reformed without Aslef’s agreement.
"Following the Government’s intervention to put the operator on successive short-term contracts, Avanti did make significant progress during the first half of 2023. However, improvements still need to be made, which is why it’s important the operator continues to address the underlying challenges it faces and the Government continues to hold it to account, if it doesn’t."
Andy Burnham's office has been approached for a comment.