Avanti West Coast

Debate between Lord Bradley and Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill

Monday 27th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bradley]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the service provided by Avanti West Coast between Manchester and London.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill) (Lab)]

My department is clear that the performance of Avanti West Coast has not been good enough. Officials routinely meet Avanti and Network Rail as part of a relentless focus on improving railway performance, bringing together track and train far more than previously and holding both sides accountable. The Secretary of State met the managing director in January to understand Avanti’s plans to address industrial action. I will meet him, together with the Network Rail route director, on Friday, to further discuss performance.

[Lord Bradley (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply and note my interest as a weekly user of Avanti trains and praise the many excellent staff on these trains and the brilliant services provided by Stockport booking office. However, the performance during November and December 2024, as the Minister has mentioned, was utterly woeful and frustrating. Journey after journey was subject to huge delays, with numerous cancellations and subsequent declassification throughout the trains, standing room only or people sitting on the floor of the carriages, and no refreshments, not even the smallest bottle of water, throughout the train. On behalf of Avanti’s long-suffering passengers, will the Minister carefully study again the contract at his meeting with management later in the week, to end this misery and ensure that customers and taxpayers get the value for money that they so deserve?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I strongly sympathise with my noble friend on his experiences in his weekly travelling. My postbag, email and every other means of communication is full of criticism of Avanti West Coast. It was given a contract for three years in October 2023. I assure noble Lords that as hard as we look at the contract, the company has not yet failed to meet the performance target standards that the previous Government set it.