Avanti West Coast set to cut key routes immediately

Avanti originally planned to reduce the number of services it runs on the popular route on Saturdays by scrapping as many as two-in-five trains in December, blaming crew issues and industrial action.

But it has now emerged the company is now planning to activate the new timetable this week.

Avanti today admitted it was facing challenges because of a lack of drivers. It told the Express & Star the situation "was not good enough" and promised it was taking action.

Sources from within the company told the BBC that timetable cuts were imminent.

It will anger passenger groups who have faced months of disruption because of industrial action and cancellations due to staff shortages.

The Aslef drivers union had already condemned the cuts that were planned for December, saying they were "just the latest in a long line of disappointments felt by passengers who travel with a company whose name has become a byword for poor service".

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, added: ‘Avanti West Coast has consistently let down rail staff and the great British public and the announcement that they will now cut services during the festive period is a shameful gift to give passengers this Christmas.

"Aslef has been warning for some time that the company has been trying to run its service on the West Coast main line on the cheap.

"Not employing enough drivers to deliver the services it has promised passengers – and the government – it will run has left crucial services understaffed and undervalued and it is the passengers, once again, who are going to pay the price.

"The consistent failures by Avanti West Coast mean it should be nowhere near our railway network. Instead of handing the company a bumper contract extension a few weeks ago the Tory government should have been getting a grip on the company and getting our railways back on track like the public deserve."

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson told the Express & Star: “We have been seeing some short-notice cancellations on our network and would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.

"We know this is not good enough and are working hard to make sure we can minimise these cancellations.

"These service changes are a result of resourcing challenges where we have seen a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements and ongoing industrial disputes."

Avanti also sought to remind passengers that it introduced a major timetable 'uplift' last December "increasing the number of services by more than 40 per cent, helping journey levels to grow to their highest since the pandemic."

Avanti says it is addressing the driver number issue too, saying: "Over 100 additional drivers have already entered formal service, as new drivers and those who needed re-training after Covid became available to work.

"We are undertaking unprecedented levels of annual recruitment over the next few years."

The company is a is a joint venture between FirstGroup and Italian state operator Trenitalia. It runs around 50 services between London Euston and Manchester every day, stopping at stations including Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton and Stafford, with a similar number of services operating on Saturdays.

It was handed a new contract to run services in September.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper handed Avanti West Coast a new contract, claiming the firm was ‘back on track’ after struggling with reliability.

The proportion of its trains that are cancelled has been cut to “as low as 1.1% over the past year”, the Department of Transport said.