Transport boss’s anger at Avanti’s reduced service
He says train operator kept local leaders in the dark about changes
A GREATER Manchester transport boss has blasted Avanti West Coast for keeping local leaders in the dark over plans to suspend ticket sales and reduce services to London to just one train per hour from next week.
Councillor Andrew Western, chair of the Greater Manchester Transport Committee, said it was ‘unacceptable’ that the rail firm had cooked up the ‘limited timetable’ with the government without consulting city region chiefs.
“I find it flabbergasting that the Department for Transport have been engaged in this and signed this off, given the economic impact this will have on the city region – and given we are not yet clear how long this shambles will continue,” Coun Western told a committee meeting on Friday.
“The narrative out of government for the last three years has been one of tackling inequality and levelling up. And yet, here we are as a city region being ostracised from what sadly remains the main economic centre in this country.”
The under-fire rail firm issued a ‘do not travel warning’ for yesterday and
will run as few as four trains per hour from today in an attempt to halt the short-notice cancellations which have plagued its operations.
It has also suspended ticket sales for travel from Sunday until September 11, citing drivers refusing to work rest days and overtime shifts for the disruption, ahead of the ASLEF union taking strike action next week.
Coun Western said that the lack of consultation was ‘unacceptable’ and should not happen again.”I appreciate that there will be times when decisions need to be made quickly and in the interests perhaps of passenger safety and other reasons that may arise,” he told Matthew Worman, Avanti’s regional growth manager.
“But the lack of dialogue, the lack of understanding that the impact that a decision such as this could have, really has inflamed tensions around this. This would be a difficult enough decision for us to bear the impact of without that having happened.”
Coun Western – Labour leader of Trafford council – also slammed the firm’s claim that its hand had been forced by industrial action, as working rest days and overtime is not compulsory – albeit Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had labelled it an ‘unofficial strike.’
“Actually Avanti’s service has – as you yourself acknowledged – been collapsing for some time with the increased number of cancellations between Manchester and London,” he said, addressing Mr Worman.
Greater Manchester Transport Committee met at Manchester Town Hall Extension on Friday (August 12).