Cancellations, late trains, and infrequent services – Avanti under fire from region's leaders
Avanti has been told to up its game on the line, with one MP warning that its poor service will not be forgotten when its franchise is up for renewal.
Andy Street, elected mayor for the West Midlands, has written to Avanti's parent company calling for it to address the number of cancellations, improve reliability, and reinstate services which have been removed from the timetable.
The company has been criticised following the announcement that it will be reducing its Saturday services on the West Coast franchise with immediate effect. This comes on top of cuts to its services in Shropshire, which have now been reduced to just one train a day in each direction, leaving Shrewsbury at 7.04 in the morning, and returning at 8.56pm at night.
The company won a three-year extension to its franchise last month. but Marco Longhi, Conservative MP for Dudley North, said he could not understand why this had been granted given the company's poor performance.
Only last week, Mr Longhi took to social media to complain about his experience of the service.
"Another day, and another let down by Avanti West Coast," he said.
"Quite why they, and staff in particular, treat customers the way they do is beyond me. As is the decision to reconfirm the franchise."
On hearing about the latest plans to cut Saturday services, Mr Longhi told the Express & Star: "It kind of underlines the point I have been making for several months.
"The service isn't brilliant from Avanti. At one point it was truly shocking, and to be fair they did improve for a while, but now the Government has given them another contract, it's fallen off a cliff again.
"If your train is on time, and that's a big if, you're likely to find you have not got your seat reservation because a different train has been put on.
"They're always short of staff, some of the staff are downright rude, some of the staff are utterly brilliant.
"They always give a reason why something is wrong, but there comes a point where you don't want to hear the reason, you want it sorted."
Stuart Anderson, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, said he was also concerned about the effect the cuts would have on the city.
"The transport network is a lifeline to many people," he said.
"We need a functioning, running transport system that provides the services for people when they need them.
"I'm aware there's a shortage of drivers, but this impacts on people. If the service is unreliable people can't plan around that. It's also bad for business, as people have to get to meetings, and need to have as much reliability as possible."
Pat McFadden, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East, also criticised the decision.
"The service has already declined over the years," he said.
"Cutting Saturday services would make things even worse. It will simply add to the feleing that thigs in the country don't work as well as they used to."
Andy Street, elected mayor for the West Midlands, has written to Avanti's parent company First Rail asking for it to address reliability problems, and reinstate the three services an hour to London.
He said: "Like many fellow residents, I've been disappointed by the recnet news from Avanti regarding the reductions in services.
"My job as mayor is to hold rail operators to account and – while I won't air all their challenges in public – I'm pushing them to take the action necessary to grip the issues they're facing.
"Local people right across our region deserve a better customer experience and I'm fighting for that."
Richard Parker, Labour's challenger for mayor, said the service had declined markedly since Avanti took over the franchise in December 2019.
Virgin Trains had operated the franchise for the previous 22 years.
He said the latest cuts would have a big impact on rail users.
"I think it's dreadful for people in the West Midlands, businesses will be badly affected," he said.
"They are not meeting their obligations."
