…while operator reintroduces 70 services to busiest routes as first phase of recovery plan

An extra 70 services a week on its busiest route between London and Manchester, compared with the current timetable, is the first stage of a recovery plan by Avanti West Coast (AWC) to “build a robust timetable that isn’t reliant on overtime”, which led to the current problem.

It comes after AWC was forced to introduce an emergency timetable on August 14 in an effort to halt short-notice cancellations with four trains per hour, instead of the usual seven, leaving London Euston (RAIL 964).

Providing 40,000 extra seats a week on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the reintroduced services do not rely on overtime working.

A further increase is planned in “mid-December” (exact date to be announced), by which time additional drivers will have been trained.

Manchester services were the worst affected, with trains reduced from three per hour to one outside the morning peak.

The extra services began to be introduced on Tuesday September 27, with up to an additional ten trains on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and six additional trains on Wednesdays.

The remaining additional services - giving an extra ten per day on weekdays and weekends - will be introduced “as soon as possible” said AWC, which has been issuing fresh emergency timetables each week.

At the same time, on the London-Birmingham route, AWC will introduce four additional trains a day (two in each direction) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

December’s increase will entail operation of a total of three London-Manchester trains an hour, an additional West Midlands service taking Birmingham to at least half-hourly, and the return of direct services to North Wales.

Overall, there will be more than 260 services a day on weekdays, compared with 180 a day before December and 245 in May 2022.

In a statement, AWC said: “These extra trains follow an intensive analysis of the number of additional services that can be provided in a reliable and sustainable fashion.

“They also take account of the significant number of drivers who will be entering passenger service following recruitment and training - nearly 100 between April and December this year.

“The services are being targeted at the busiest routes and times and are not dependent on overtime working.”

Services were reduced in early August as a result of drivers being unwilling to sign up for the overtime. This caused numerous short-notice cancellations, so the timetable was reduced to make it more reliable and allow people to travel with greater certainty. As a result, short-notice cancellations dropped from 16% to 3%.

Although the timetable was reduced, AWC ran additional services where they were most needed and resource allowed. On weekdays between 0600 and 0800, it ran seven trains from Manchester to London, almost the same as pre-COVID. From 0700-0900, it ran six trains from Birmingham to London, the same as pre-COVID.

AWC Executive Director of Operations and Safety Barry Milsom said: “Resolving this situation required a robust plan that allows us to gradually increase

services without being reliant on train-crew overtime.

“We are now in a position to start delivering this incremental increase in services, followed by a further increase in December. We’ll continue to review our timetable beyond December.

“We’re working with our people, their union representatives, and industry partners to match the resources we have to the demand, so we can deliver reliable services across our network to all our customers and communities.”

AWC said it has enough drivers to run its services, but training of new drivers - which takes 18 months - had to be suspended during COVID, as social distancing rules meant instructors and others could not be in a cab with a trainee.

In addition, AWC had some drivers who were “clinically extremely vulnerable” and couldn’t work during the pandemic, who then needed refresher training.

The FirstGroup-owned operator added: “We now have significant numbers of additional drivers coming into service following recruitment and training, and this will continue over the coming months.

“Nearly 100 drivers will have entered formal service this year between April and December. We have more drivers on the books than the previous franchise nearly 600 in total.

“This is a key part of our plan to build a robust timetable which isn’t reliant on overtime.”

See Haigh, pages 52-53.

Avanti West Coast 390011 passes Hademore (between Lichfield and Tamworth) on March 18, forming the 1255 Manchester PiccadillyLondon Euston. A further 70 services a week were introduced on this route from September 27 as part of the operator’s recovery plan.