Avanti West Coast summoned to account for ‘woeful’ service

A railway boss has been summoned by the Transport Secretary to account for the company’s “woeful” service, the Government said.

Louise Haigh demanded “immediate action” from Avanti West Coast in a meeting with its managing director, Andy Mellors, after official figures showed its passengers faced some of the worst travel disruption in the country.

The talks on Tuesday mark the start of a “rail performance” investigation in which the “worst performing” train firms will be called in by the Department for Transport (DfT) as cancellations reach record highs.

Route directors at Network Rail have also been summoned to attend all meetings with companies to “bring together track and train and hold both sides accountable”, ending the “culture of blame” on the railways, the department said.

Ms Haigh said: “Britain’s railways are failing passengers day-in, day-out, and as Passenger-in-Chief I’ve made it my number one priority to hold industry bosses to account.

“That’s why I’ve called in the worst performing train operating companies – starting with Avanti West Coast – alongside Network Rail and demanded immediate action to raise standards.

“Change starts now. Through bold action to move fast and fix things, we can make sure passengers get the service they deserve with the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.”

Office of Rail and Road 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%) cancelled.

Ms Haigh accused the company during the general election campaign of providing a “woeful service” and said Labour would consider stripping the firm of its contract for the line running from London up to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbria and Glasgow.

Last week, several newly elected Labour MPs criticised cancellations and disruptions on the line during their journeys to take up their seats in the House of Commons.

The Labour Government has promised to bring all train services in England into public ownership, saying it will do so as contracts expire or by ending agreements early in cases of poor performance.

The party has also said it will press ahead with the creation of Great British Railways, a new public sector body to oversee the network first proposed by the Conservative government in May 2021.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “We met the Secretary of State today alongside our colleagues at Network Rail to discuss the current challenges on the network. During the meeting, we outlined the issues which are unique to us as well as those affecting the industry a whole.

“It was a constructive session, and we look forward to holding more discussions on how we make further improvements to the railways in the coming months.”

Network Rail has been contacted for comment.