Tories 'rewarding failure' with new contracts to unreliable train firms

19 September 2023 , 12:37

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RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said ministers were 'rewarding abject failure' (Image: PA)

The Government has handed two of Britain’s least reliable train firms new contracts. Avanti and CrossCountry were given fresh taxpayer-backed deals despite coming bottom for punctuality over the summer.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said ministers were “rewarding abject failure and exposing how corrupt the current system is.” Avanti, a joint venture between First Group and Italy’s state-owned Trenitalia, has been awarded a new nine-year contract to continue running the busy West Coast mainline service.

Yet it became a byword for failure in 2022 after reducing its normal timetable and running a fraction of trains on the line linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Figures from the Office of Rail and Road showed just 46.1% of Avanti West Coast’s services arrived on time between April and June this year, when the national average was more than 70%.

Avanti will earn £5.1million a year under a fixed management fee structure, but up to £15.8million more if it meets targets. The Department for Transport claimed Avanti’s performance had improved. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Now Avanti are back on track, providing long-term certainty for both the operator and passengers will best ensure that improvements continue.”

But Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “Passengers who rely on this abysmal service will be appalled that, despite being almost rock bottom of the league table for delays, Avanti is being awarded a lucrative new contract. “That’s on top of millions of pounds in performance bonuses.”

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Mr Lynch said: “Avanti are one of the worst rail companies on the network and it is a travesty that they have been awarded this contract. “From supplying inappropriate uniforms to staff, mass cancellation of train services and multiple industrial disputes, Avanti have been an unmitigated disaster.”

The Government also awarded CrossCountry - whose network stretches from Aberdeen to Penzance, - a new contract lasting up to eight years. CrossCountry’s poor track record for punctuality saw just 49.7% of services arrive on time between April and June. CrossCountry, which is owned by Arriva, a UK-based subsidiary of the German state railway operator Deutsche Bahn, also had one of the highest rates of cancellations.

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Graham Hiscott