Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, to
replace Avanti Trains as the principal operator on the West Coast
Main Line.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, the department is currently in discussions with Avanti
West Coast, as per the prior information notice first issued in
October 2020, about a subsequent direct award. A decision will be
made later in the year.
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that not-too-helpful response.
Does she regret the replacement of Virgin Trains by this
particular organisation? Does she agree with me that the problem
of national rail contracts is that, under the present system,
they are, in effect, cost-plus contracts? There is no incentive
on train operating companies either to run trains or to provide a
decent service, something this particular company has taken
advantage of. Will she send Avanti a short message—how about,
“Arrivederci”?
(Con)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for that. I also am aware that he
has written to Avanti West Coast citing his concerns. It has no
record of any correspondence from him; however, the managing
director is very happy to speak to the noble Lord—perhaps he can
say that Italian word at that meeting. It is the case that both
for the ERMAs and the national rail contracts, there are very
firm incentivisation elements. For example, Avanti earns a fee
based on performance and, for the six months to March 2021, it
was judged as getting a score of one for customer experience—that
is the lowest, not the highest. Therefore, because it got the
lowest, it got no fee for that element. So there is
incentivisation, and we hope to make it better because we want to
see excellent customer service across our railways.
(LD)
My Lords, I shall ask the Minister a straight question. If she
came to this Chamber 17 minutes late to answer these questions,
how does she think the House would feel? If she was summoned
again at 9 pm with a Statement from the other place and she was
38 minutes late, does she think that we would be impressed with
that performance? Those were the train delays on my journey from
Stockport to London on the Thursday before we broke for Easter.
That is by no means a one-off—the timetable is fantasy island.
The morale of staff is at an all-time low. Until last week, they
were wearing Virgin uniforms—three years on—with the badge cut
off. The morale of staff is down, the service to customers is
poor and I see no reason for carrying on with this franchise.
(Con)
My Lords, had I turned up late to the Dispatch Box, obviously I
might have had to resign—but not today. It should be remembered
that we understand that there have been various issues relating
to services. We work extremely closely with all the train
operating companies, as the customers come back to the railways,
to make sure that they run on time. There has been an issue
around cancellations regarding staff-related absence, but we are
working through that and things are improving. Of course, part of
having these contracts in place means that we will be able to get
better service for customers.
(Lab)
My Lords, I have heard the same stories as my noble friend about
the pretty appalling customer service from Avanti, and I reflect
on the fact that the present structure seems to require the
Treasury to micromanage everything—even if Network Rail wants to
paint the railings on a station, it has to get Treasury approval.
This is probably not a very efficient way of working. Can the
Minister assure the House that, when we hear details of the Great
British Railways, which is going to save us all from appalling
services, that will be taken into account and somehow there will
be some delegation and authority for the railways to run on their
own with incentives and not too much bureaucracy?
(Con)
I absolutely agree with what the noble Lord has just said. Of
course, the Great British Railways transition team is already
focused on delivering improved services for customers and driving
revenue recovery. At the moment we know that passenger demand is
about two-thirds of what it was pre-pandemic. It is looking very
closely at boosting strategic freight again which is really
important and developing this whole 30-year vision for how we
want our railways to operate in the longer term.
(Con)
If my noble friend had time during the period of the Prorogation,
perhaps she could think of undertaking a journey, heavily
disguised, on this unfortunate and benighted railway and
reporting her experiences to the House when we resume.
(Con)
I am always very happy to take the train. When I take my local
train, I am actually always pleased with the service, although I
look around and see that there are not as many passengers on it
as I would like to see. I think that is one of the biggest
challenges we face. We have the railway infrastructure and
operating companies which have historically been operating at
much higher passenger levels and we have to look at how we are
going to adjust the railway in the future, maintaining excellent
customer service but also good value for money for the
taxpayer.
(Lab)
Will the Minister acknowledge the great importance to the Welsh
economy of the Holyhead to London Euston route, acknowledging
that there are not many highly skilled or well-paid jobs in
north-west Wales? Can the Minister indicate when the pre-Covid
rate of service might be reconstituted, particularly the hourly
service that existed from Chester to Euston which has been much
emaciated? Can she help?
(Con)
I do not think that I would be able to stand here and commit to
every single service coming in the same form as it was
pre-pandemic, because life has changed and the reasons why people
are travelling by rail have also changed. Avanti West Coast
started off with four trains per hour plus extra peak trains.
Back in February, that went up to six trains per hour—on 28
February—and then as we approach the summer timetable which comes
in in May, we will be up to seven trains per hour and eight on
key hours. That will improve the service to Chester and, I hope,
to north Wales.
(Con)
My Lords, it is always easy to complain and make comments, but
yesterday I was on an Avanti train from Euston to Liverpool,
where my mother was having an operation. I waited until she was
conscious and therefore I missed my train, which I had booked at
2.47 pm. I would like the Minister to agree with me and call out
the train manager at Liverpool Lime Street on the 3.47 pm Avanti
train. When I explained my situation, that I had missed my train,
he said, “Don’t you worry whatsoever. Go and sit down.” It was
great customer service, and I would like to call that out.
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for that contribution and I have nothing
further to add.
(Lab)
My Lords, can we go into this Avanti contract a little more?
Modern Railways magazine, which tends to be an authoritative
magazine in the industry, says that Avanti will be taking over
the service on a national rail contract on 16 October. Can the
Minister confirm that that is true? When does she expect to
actually conclude the contract with Avanti? Can she explain what
revenue risk, if any, Avanti will be taking? Will she perhaps
illustrate what other risk Avanti will be responsible for? The
key question, I think, given that there is not going to be a
competitive process, is: how do we know we are getting value for
money?
(Con)
Avanti already has an emergency recovery measures agreement,
which was awarded to First Trenitalia, which is Avanti, in August
2019. That was initially for seven years, so the national rail
contract we are currently negotiating with Avanti will replace
that. It will start on 16 October if negotiations reach an
appropriate point. We will not award the contract if it is not
right to award the contract, because, of course, there are
alternatives. As for the revenue risks, obviously these contracts
operate as all rail contracts do, whereby the Government take on
the revenue and the costs; however, the train operating companies
do annual business planning every year, which has to be agreed
with the department. On that basis, within that, there are
various performance measures that have to be met, and that is how
we are able to control the railway and ensure companies are
delivering value for money.
(CB)
My Lords, I use the Avanti West Coast every week and, frankly,
the customer service is pretty good. It has introduced standard
premium, which is a vast improvement, with at-seat ordering, et
cetera—I think it is pretty good. But can the Minister tell me
about what is laughably called Transpennine Express,
which has been on strike for weeks now every Sunday? What are the
Government doing to bring the strike to an end?
(Con)
Yes, I am aware that the Transpennine Express
is subject to some industrial action. Of course, we are working
very closely with the train operating companies, and we hope to
bring that strike to a resolution as soon as possible.
