The
Board
of
Transport
for
the
North


has
voted
for
the
termination
of
the
Avanti
West
Coast
contract,
which
it
says
should
be
taken
back
into
public
control
‘at
the
earliest
possibility’.

The
meeting
in
Leeds
had
considered
a
report
which
said
‘a
continuation
of
the
current
situation
is
unacceptable
to
the
North’,
and
members
approved
a
motion
for
a
letter
to
be
sent
to
transport
secretary
Mark
Harper,
calling
for
the
operator
to
be
transferred
to
the
DfT’s
Operator
of
Last
Resort,
at
least
for
now. 

The
OLR
has
already
taken
over
four
other
former
franchises
in
England,
starting
with
LNER
in
2018,
which
had
been
the
failed
Virgin
Trains
East
Coast.

Avanti
West
Coast
had
been
granted
a
National
Rail
Contract
last
October,
after
periods
of
‘probationary’
operation.
This
contract
is
due
to
run
until
October
2032
at
the
latest.

Two
options
were
considered
by
the
Board.
One
was
to
set
a
target
for
improvement
by
June
or
face
‘further
measures’
or
to
terminate
the
contract
straight
away. 

After
hearing
from
Avanti’s
managing
director
Steve
Montgomery
about
the
poor
performance
over
many
months
the
board
chose
the
second
option.

TfN
wrote
to
the
transport
secretary
in
December,
asking
him
to
instruct
officials
to
conduct
a
critical
review
of
Avanti
West
Coast,
given
the
deteriorating
service,
after
the
operator
announced
a
number
of
cuts
to
services
over
Christmas.

TfN
chair
Lord
McLoughlin
said:
‘Today’s
board
was
very
clear.
The
performance
on
the
West
Coast
Main
Line
by
Avanti
has
been
so
poor,
for
so
long
that
action
now
must
be
taken.

‘We
will
be
writing
statutory
advice
today
to
the
secretary
of
state
calling
for
Avanti
to
be
relieved
of
its
contract.
The
travelling
public
deserve
a
service
they
can
rely
on.
But
Avanti
has
fallen
far
too
short
of
expectations
for
far
too
long
now.’