Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the recent performance of the rail services on the West Coast
Main Line provided by Avanti Trains.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, train operating companies’ performances are
independently assessed against their contracts periodically
across set criteria. An evaluation is under way and therefore it
would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time. Once the
evaluation is complete, results will be published.
(Lab)
Does the Minister recollect our exchange on 27 April, when she
said that this company had the lowest possible passenger
satisfaction, scoring only one out of five? Will she accept from
me that since then the performance has been even worse? The
company is now at the bottom of the intercity league so far as
delays and cancellations are concerned. As the company’s contract
expires in October, what plans do the Government have to renew it
or to find an alternative, bearing in mind that anyone running
the west coast main line from October qualifies to run HS2 in the
future? Will we really hand over Britain’s flagship railway to a
company that is 70% controlled by the Italian Government and that
has made a complete mess of the trains that it is responsible for
running at present?
(Con)
I do indeed recall an almost identical Question on 27 April. It
is a pleasure to be answering it again. Avanti West Coast
achieved one out of three, not one of five, which I agree is
still terrible—it was at the bottom—but the Government hold it
and all other train operators to account via the contracts.
Avanti West Coast is still on an ERMA and, as the noble Lord
pointed out, we are looking at potentially moving it and allied
organisations on to a national rail contract within the third
tranche of the national rail contracts. Will it definitely happen
in October? That is not certain at all. We will look at its
performance. We will think about the other options that we might
consider in terms of incorporating HS2, for example, and being
the shadow operator of HS2. Nothing is certain at this stage.
(LD)
My Lords, there are reports that Avanti West Coast has withdrawn
the 0745 Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Piccadilly service, a vital
commuter service. It has been withdrawn until September,
apparently due to staff shortages. This is clearly not
acceptable, as it was done without any notice. What are the
obligations for train operating companies to give due notice and
to undertake public consultation prior to withdrawing train
services that they are contractually committed to provide? There
is an issue here in relation to season ticket holders. Will they
be given full refunds? What penalties will Avanti West Coast
suffer if it has not obeyed the rules that are attached to its
obligations?
(Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for the warning
about the 0745 Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester but, as she pointed
out, the removal of that service is temporary. It will be
reinstated. Noble Lords will be aware that there has been a
significant uptick in the number of cases of Covid recently,
leading to short-term staff unavailability. That has had a
knock-on impact on training for new staff coming in to support
these services. Avanti West Coast is working very hard to
minimise the impact on passengers. All cancellations are
regrettable. Often these circumstances are quite fast-moving, and
changes are temporary, so traditional consultation does not
usually happen. However, usually the train operating companies
will work with the local markets and with key stakeholders to
understand any impact.
(Lab)
My Lords, Great British
Railways is coming into effect in, I am sure the Minister
hopes, a couple of years. She will be directly responsible for
all the trains that are on time and late, as well as for the
infrastructure. Does she relish that? If not, who will she
blame?
(Con)
I hope that it will not be me personally, as I am not the Rail
Minister, though it will be the Government.
However, Great British
Railways will be a body set up specifically for all those
things that the noble Lord has pointed out, which will be to the
benefit of passengers and freight since it will bring everything
under one overarching umbrella. Will the Secretary of State and
any Rail Minister at that time micromanage the network?
Absolutely not. However, there will be one guiding mind. That is
our ambition for Great British
Railways
(LD)
My Lords, I fear the Minister will never be able to see the
virtues of Stockport, which is a vibrant community and is
business- friendly. On Saturday, eight trains to Manchester were
cancelled; on Friday, two; and on Thursday, one. The 2.40 was
cancelled at short notice today as well. Every time a train is
cancelled, hundreds of real people are disadvantaged. Is the
Minister certain that there is not a sensible alternative to
handing over HS2 to Avanti, as the noble Lord, , spoke about? You would not put
Herod in charge of an orphanage, would you?
(Con)
My Lords, Avanti West Coast is not the only train operating
company currently facing difficulties, which are principally due
to the uptick in Covid, as I suggested. There is a downward trend
in the public performance measure and the moving annual average
across all train operating companies, but it is expected that
this will be proactively mitigated. The DfT will actively manage
this process through the schedule 7.1 sections in the franchise
agreements to make sure that we hold people to account, get the
performance data, and understand why things went wrong and what
we can do to fix them. Our goal is to deliver for passengers and
for freight.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, given the awful service on the west coast and on other
railways, and given that fares in the United Kingdom are so much
greater than on the continent, including in Italy—which owns a
big percentage of the west coast firm—will the Minister not agree
with my noble friend about moving back
to Great British
Railways and that the unbelievably complex privatisation of
the railways in Britain has been a total disaster? There are some
guilty men opposite who should admit it.
(Con)
I cannot agree with the noble Lord at all. Bringing the private
sector into the railways probably rescued them. The number of
passengers has gone up enormously since the private sector was
involved. There have been problems more recently, principally
owing to the Covid pandemic, but the Government will keep the
private sector involved in our railways. These national rail
contracts will become passenger service contracts, and the noble
Lord is most welcome to respond to the consultation on them.
(Lab)
My Lords, there seems to be consensus that Avanti is one of the
worst train operators in the country, and that is against a very
low bar. Can we turn to the other side of the contract? Since
2010, the cost of a season ticket on the west coast main line
between Coventry and London Euston has risen 49%, from £7,096 to
£10,546. This represents an increase of almost £300 a year. What
steps are the Government taking to address increasing rail fares
on the west coast main line?
(Con)
The Government are very conscious of increases in rail fares
across the entire network, which is why we used the July RPI
figure to increase the regulated fares this time around. We could
have used the later figure and it would have been higher, but we
deliberately decided to use a lower figure. How we will take
subsequent rises forward is still under consideration. We
recognise the impact that the cost of living challenge is having
and will bear this in mind as we think about future price
rises.
(PC)
My Lords, does the noble Baroness appreciate the negative effect
that performance on the west coast line is having on potential
industrial and economic development in north Wales? Undermining
rail connectivity between north Wales and other industrial
centres in England means that the convenience of being located
there is now very difficult to sell to incoming industrialists.
Are the Government satisfied with that result from their
policy?
(Con)
The Government are not satisfied with the current performance of
the train operating companies, and we are doing all we can to
work with them and get through this difficult phase of the
current Covid uptick and improving timetables. The timetables
have been improved, not only by increasing the number of trains
coming in on the west coast main line, but by ensuring that
future timetables are flexible and respond to demands such that,
if people choose to invest in north Wales—I encourage them to do
so—they would have appropriate rail services.
