Avanti contract to be renewed despite no sign of train timetable issues abating soon
The London-Manchester train operator Avanti West Coast is to receive fresh government support with a new long-term agreement to keep the line going.
Three weeks ago the operator slashed services between the cities, reducing trains from three to one an hour, with no sign of when normality will return.
Its managing director Phil Whittingham is to step down on 15 September, coinciding with railway staff’s next wave of industrial action.
In a statement quoted by The Times, the operator said: “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 dramatically.”
Despite a warning yesterday from Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, that Avanti is in “the last-chance saloon”, it is understood that Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, believes that the firm’s problems have been driven primarily by disputes with the trade unions.