Avanti West Coast contract extended for a further 6 months

Avanti West Coast has been granted a contract extension to continue running the West Coast Main Line franchise for a further six months, the Department of Transport has confirmed.

The six month extension will run until 15th October 2023, following progress made by the rail company in improving punctuality, reducing cancellations and in recruitment and training of new drivers.

The operator was put on a short-term contract last autumn and ordered to develop a recovery plan aimed at addressing poor performance on routes between London and the North-west, North Wales and Scotland, including routes through Wilmslow and Macclesfield. A recovery timetable was introduced on 11th December 2022, and since then Avanti West Coast has increased service levels to 264 weekday trains, cut cancellations from 25% to less than 5%, and recruited over 100 additional drivers to reduce reliance on overtime working.

Transport Secretary, Mark Harper said:

“The routes Avanti West Coast run are absolutely vital, and I fully understand the frustrations passengers felt at the completely unacceptable services seen last Autumn. Following our intervention, Rail Minister Huw Merriman and I have worked closely with local leaders to put a robust plan in place, which I’m glad to see is working.

“However, there is still more work to be done to bring services up to the standards we expect, which is why over this next 6 months further improvements will need to be made by Avanti West Coast.”

In the coming six months, Avanti West Coast will be expected to further improve reliability and punctuality of services and improve its weekend service offering in order for the company to retain the contract for the West Coast Main Line franchise.

Graham Sutherland, FirstGroup Chief Executive Officer said:

“We are working closely with government and our partners across the industry to deliver a successful railway for our customers and communities.

“Performance at Avanti is steadily improving and since the introduction of the new timetable in mid-December, the number of services operated has increased by more than 40% compared to last summer, with more seats and better frequencies. Today’s agreement allows our team to continue their focus on delivering their robust plans to continue enhancing services for our customers, including further progress on our train upgrade and refurbishment programme.”