Avanti not ‘out of the woods yet’ as contract renewal decision looms
Avanti West Coast is not “out of the woods yet”, a top MP has warned, as the government decides whether to renew the operator’s contract.
Rail minister Huw Merriman has said he will make a decision on Avanti’s contract soon, with the extension set to expire in April. Merriman said it will be based “on who’s best to run” things.
“I hope Avanti gets it right,” Iain Stewart, chair of the transport select committee, told City A.M. “But I don’t think they are out of the woods yet.”
The troubled train operator was recently crowned the UK’s worst operator in terms of cancellations.
Stewart said, however, it was important to separate the cancellations Avanti was responsible for from those caused by factors beyond its control such as adverse weather or strikes.
“My view at the moment is that the jury’s still out,” he said.
Stewart said he would “not lose any sleep” if ministers said they needed more time to look at the evidence before making a decision.
An spokesperson for Avanti West Coast, part of FirstGroup, said: “We know that our customers have not been getting the service they deserve and we’re sorry for that. Our new timetable, introduced in December, greatly increased the number of services we’re running and customers are seeing the benefits of that with more seats and more frequent services. Performance is steadily improving and we’re running far more services than we were in the autumn.”