Passengers on one of the UK’s busiest inter-city rail routes face a prolonged period of disruption after the operator of the west coast mainline sharply reduced services, blaming “severe” staff shortages.
Avanti West Coast, which runs services from London to cities in the north of England and Scotland, said on Monday it would implement an emergency timetable from August 14 until “further notice.” It also announced it was temporarily suspending the sale of all tickets.
It will eliminate four trains per hour between London and cities like Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester. The company normally operates seven trains an hour from London, with three going to Manchester.
Avanti blamed the disruption on “the current industrial relations climate” in the railway industry, which has been hit by a series of national strikes over pay, possible job losses and changes to working practices.
The operator, in which the UK’s FirstGroup holds 70 per cent and Italian state railway company Trenitalia 30 per cent, said it had been hit by “severe staff shortages” through increased sickness. It blamed “unofficial strike action”, with fewer drivers signing up to work on their rest days in recent weeks.
The train operator’s timetable is heavily reliant on staff agreeing to work on days off, with as many as 400 trains per week operated by drivers working overtime. According to it, this number has dropped to 50 trains over the past week, which has caused significant disruption to services.
The claim that refusing to work overtime constituted an “unofficial strike” has angered unions. Aslef, the drivers union, has said the claim was a “lie”, and that Avanti does not employ enough drivers. Its members will strike on Saturday over pay at nine train operators, which includes Avanti.
Officials at the union claimed that its members have not taken other industrial action and that their members are free to work rest days.
The RMT union, which is in dispute with Network Rail, the operator of the UK’s rail network, as well as most train operators, has called for a meeting with Grant Shapps, UK transport secretary, over the situation at Avanti.
“Avanti are falsely and shamefully making allegations that this decision is due to unofficial industrial action when the reality is this decision arises from poor management, cutting staffing to the bare minimum and rock-bottom staff morale,” said Mick Lynch, leader of the RMT.
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said Avanti’s move to a reduced schedule would “create significant hurt for business travellers”, adding: “It will drive people into cars and on to planes as they seek alternative arrangements.”
Avanti acknowledged the disruption would cause “enormous frustration and inconvenience”, but said the new reduced timetable would allow customers to travel “with greater certainty”.
We have reached out to the government for comment.
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