Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury says constituents are flabbergasted by a decision announced earlier this week to extend Avanti West Coast’s rail contract.
The government said on Monday it would give Avanti a further six months following significant improvements since October.
The operator had been placed on a short-term contract by the government and ordered to develop a recovery plan to address poor performance on the West Coast Main Line.
The contract extension this week led to the Labour MP describing it as a reward for failure.
Mr Amesbury has previously called for the operator to be stripped of the West Coast franchise due to poor reliability and punctuality of train services.
He told transport secretary Mark Harper: “It seems that an assessment has been made by the secretary of state that actually the service is just a little less rubbish. Is that really a just case for extending the contract?
“My constituents are flabbergasted.”
Mr Amesbury – who has personal experience of cancellations and delays on a regular basis using Avanti trains – believes the operation should be brought into public ownership.
Responding to the comments, Mr Harper said: “I was very frank with the House that the service last summer and autumn was completely unacceptable.
“Avanti brought in a new timetable in December. For the first month, we did not really see any improvement because there was sustained industrial action on the railways.
“Since then, it has delivered improved performance. Is it good enough? No, it is not – I have made that clear – but I believe that it has demonstrated that it has turned things around enough to justify giving it the chance of a further six months to show that it can do the job.
“We will see whether it does that job in the next six months, but it has demonstrated that it can turn things around.”
Since December, Avanti West Coast has seen weekday services rise to their highest level in more than two years, cancellations reduce from nearly 25% in August 2022, to 4.2% in early March 2023 (the lowest in over 12 months) and 90% of trains now arriving within 15 minutes of the booked time.
The company has recruited more than 100 new drivers and reduced reliance on overtime working.
Graham Sutherland, chief executive of First Group (which owns Avanti) said: “We are working closely with government and our partners across the industry to deliver a successful railway for our customers and communities.
“Performance at Avanti is steadily improving and since the introduction of the new timetable in mid-December, the number of services operated has increased by more than 40% compared to last summer, with more seats and better frequencies.
“The new agreement allows our team to continue their focus on delivering their robust plans to continue enhancing services for our customers, including further progress on our train upgrade and refurbishment programme.”
