Britain’s Department for Transport (DfT) has extended the contract for Avanti West Coast for a further 6 months after significant improvements have been made since October. The current arrangement for West Coast Partnership (WCP) was previously set to expire on 31 March 2023 and will now run until 15 October 2023.
The WCP rail contract comprises operation of Avanti West Coast and West Coast Partnership Development, which acts as the shadow operator to the HS2 programme.
This decision comes almost 6 months after the operator was initially put on a short-term contract by the government and ordered to develop a recovery plan aimed at addressing poor performance on vital West Coast Main Line routes, including between Manchester, Birmingham and London.
Since the introduction of this timetable on 11 December, Avanti West Coast has seen very significant improvements across services including the increase of weekday services, the reduction of cancellations from 25% (in August 2022) to 4.2% in early March 2023, which is the lowest in over 12 months. The operator’s improvements see 90% of trains now arriving within 15 minutes of the booked time and over 100 additional drivers have been recruited, reducing reliance on union-controlled overtime working.
“However, there is still more work to be done to bring services up to the standards we expect, which is why over the next 6 months further improvements will need to be made by Avanti West Coast,” Transport Secretary, Mark Harper said. This will include delivering more reliable weekend services, continued reductions in cancellations and improvements in passenger information during planned and unplanned disruption.
The 6-month contract was initially introduced after major operational issues primarily caused by a shortage of available drivers and a ban on rest day and overtime working. Last July, drivers for Avanti West Coast, who overwhelmingly belong to the ASLEF union, simultaneously and with no warning stopped volunteering to work overtime. To help address this, the government continues to support the industry – including through setting a mandate – as they negotiate with unions to ensure we can take forward much-needed reform, including introducing a reliable 7 day a week service to secure the future of our railways.
The West Coast Partnership is a joint venture between FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) to run existing intercity services on the West Coast Main Line and deliver future high-speed services.
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