Government defends new contract for rail company
STRIPPING Avanti’s contract would ‘just cause more upheaval’, the government has warned after Northern leaders voted to bring the rail operator under public control.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has defended its decision to hand Avanti a new nine-year contract last year arguing that the company made ‘significant progress’ at the start of 2023.
But the operator, which runs trains through Macclesfield between Manchester and London, admitted that services have got worse since the new contract was awarded.
At a Transport for the North (TfN) board meeting last Wednesday, , Steve Montgomery, managing director at First Rail which owns Avanti, apologised for the inconvenience caused.
However, mayors and council leaders were unconvinced, with board members saying that they had lost trust and confidence in the company.
The TfN board voted unanimously for Avanti’s contract to be terminated.
The transport secretary is required to consider statutory advice issued by
TfN, but it is up to the government to decide what happens.
The DfT promised to hold the rail operator to account if it does not make improvements.
A DfT spokesperson said: “Stripping Avanti’s contract would just cause more upheaval for passengers rather than solving the challenges the operator is facing.
“These include restrictive working practices that can’t be reformed without Aslef’s agreement.
“Following the Government’s intervention to put the operator on successive short-term contracts, Avanti did make significant progress during the first half of 2023.
“Improvements still need to be made, which is why it’s important the operator continues to address the underlying challenges it faces.”
Mr Montgomery accepted that Avanti passengers have faced an ‘exceptionally difficult period’ and apologised.
He told the meeting: “We are trying to sort some of this out.
“I think we’re on our way to doing that, but clearly there’s more we can do.”