'National disgrace' Rail chaos as cities 'cut off' after operator slashes services
MAJOR CITIES face being "cut off" from London after Avanti West Coast reduced its routes connecting the capital to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
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The operator, which is 30 percent owned by Italian rail company Trenitalia, has slashed its intercity timetable and suspended ticket sales over the summer. Avanti have suspended ticket sales for travel from Sunday until September 11 while a new schedule is being developed.
The firm has been criticised for blaming the "current industrial relations climate" and "unofficial strike action" for ongoing staff shortages that have brought about the cuts to services.
However, the Aslef union which represents train drivers said that no strikes are taking place and Avanti has not employed enough drivers to fulfil the current timetable.
Around 400 of the company's weekly services rely on drivers working overtime for extra pay.
Avanti has been forced to admit that the number of drivers working overtime has "dropped dramatically" limiting its ability to deliver services.
Literally impossible to buy a ticket between major cities in the U.K.
— Louise Haigh (@LouHaigh) August 11, 2022
And the gvt signed-off on this.
They should stop washing their hands of responsibility, and demand a plan to restore services. If the operator cannot fulfil their contract, they have no place holding it. pic.twitter.com/wXzNkyzr7k
Labour's shadow transport minister Louise Haigh told Sky News that it was a "disgrace" that major cities were being cut off and slammed the "hapless" Government for their response.
She said: "This is a disgrace - major cities are being cut off, and the private operator is busy blaming the workforce for their own mismanagement.
"This hapless government cannot continue to wash their hands of responsibility, nor reward failure without consequences.
"It's time they put passengers first.
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������AVANTI | Steve has written to Grant Shapps, calling for guarantees that the promised two services an hour between Liverpool and London Euston are delivered - and not diluted.
— Mayor Steve Rotheram (@LCRMayor) August 10, 2022
In his letter, he also calls on the government to launch a national train driver recruitment drive. pic.twitter.com/93RnMvsEgl
The massive cuts to train services at Avanti West Coast are an outrage, as are the company's cynical attempts to shift the blame onto staff.
— Dan Carden MP (@DanCardenMP) August 10, 2022
Even worse is the Government's complicity, showing Ministers once again taking the side of corporations over passengers and workers.
"They should demand a plan from the operator to urgently restore these services, claw-back taxpayers' money being handed over for services that aren't running, and if the private operator cannot fulfil their contract, they have no business holding it."
The Sheffield Heeley MP also tweeted that "literally impossible to buy a ticket between major cities in the UK".
Avanti argued that it was reducing services in order to stop the last minute cancellations that have become frequent in recent weeks.
The firm said that it expected tickets for August 14-20 to be back on sale by the end of the week.
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The chaos being visited on travellers across our region by the incompetence of @AvantiWestCoast is yet another sign that private operators are totally unfit to run our rail network.
— Mick Whitley MP (@MickWhitleyMP) August 9, 2022
It's time to return rail to public ownership.https://t.co/CtixfBhpWH
Tickets for the following weeks would be released on a weekly basis they claimed.
An Avanti spokesman said that a "reduced timetable" was being introduced so that passengers could travel with "greater certainty".
They said: "From August 14 until further notice, we will be introducing a reduced timetable on our services.
"As a result of the majority of drivers making themselves unavailable for overtime in a coordinated fashion, and at short notice, our customers have faced multiple short-notice cancellations which have had a severe impact on their plans.
"The reduced timetable is being introduced to ensure a reliable service is delivered so our customers can travel with greater certainty."
However, the move has been blasted as a "national outrage" by regional politicians who claim Avanti has failed to consult them.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig said if the service is not restored it risks inflicting "enormous disruption and economic damage".
They argued that it would impact the recovery of the cities from the economic impact of the covid pandemic and those travelling to the Notting Hill Carnival as well as Manchester Pride.
A DfT spokesman said: “People deserve certainty and confidence that their train will run on time, and while this move was unavoidable, it should minimise the fallout for passengers.
“This is a prime example of why we need to modernise our railways so that passengers benefit from reliable timetables which don’t rely on the goodwill of drivers volunteering to work overtime in the first place.”