Avanti cancellations today (10/02/24)

[172101]

Over 70 trains cancelled so far today, and it keeps going up. And this is after the pre Christmas promise to be able to run a full Saturday service from the new year, they can't even rum a reduced service, never mind a full service.
They are clearly not fit to run the service. Let's hope Labour keeps there promise (Doubtful) and gets rid of them.

 

[trainophile]

Several full and standing reports on Journey Check too. Hardly surprising with so many cancellations.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Got caught by this yesterday. Got a text whilst tucked up in bed on the Sleeper heading north on Thursday night that my train home yesterday evening had been cancelled (at least, it wasn't going beyond Carlisle). Staff shortage, apparently. This was the last train of the day so a hurried and much more expensive booking on LNER had to be made, as we were unable to travel any earlier.
But Avanti were very efficient in one regard - from applying for my refund to it being processed took 11 minutes.

 

[M60lad]

While not yesterday but Friday I did notice that again they cancelled 21:15 Manchester-Euston service which is the last one from Manchester, not to sure how you go about getting home if you've missed that one or went to get it only to find out it was cancelled.

 

[1D54]

AWC seemed to have sorted things out after threats last year to strip them of the franchise so what has gone wrong? Is it a combination of weather related cancellations / industrial action or does it go deeper than that?

 

[Clarence Yard]

It isn’t a franchise. It’s a management contract on behalf of the DfT and the lack of a RDW agreement is not helping matters at all.

 

[68001]

land slip reported between coventry and rugby this morning cancellations and delays on avanti and LNWR expected untill 12 pm

 

[Mcr Warrior]

land slip reported between coventry and rugby this morning cancellations and delays on avanti and LNWR expected untill 12 pm

Is that delays expected all day, or only until 12 noon?

 

[68001]

12 noon

 

[Wolfie]

To be fair to Avanti despite their own woes they really did pick up the slack on the WCML yesterday morning. I was planning to travel on LNWR but many of their trains seemed to be cancelled due to what was reported at Euston to be a failed train in the Northampton area. Avanti did ticket acceptance. Instead of a 350 l had a ride to Birmingham New Street in declassified Pendolino Premium Standard - very nice! That service (1116 to Blackpool North) was very definitely full and standing.

 

[317 forever]

I was travelling home to Stockport from London yesterday. I looked them up on the status tracker and saw times when alternate trains were cancelled.

To look on the bright side, if several trains need to be cancelled, then cancelling alternate trains is the least worst option - certainly preferable to cancelling successive trains.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Not a cancellation as such, but why did last night's 1852 Avanti West Coast departure from Edinburgh Waverley for Birmingham New Street (via Carlisle) depart/run late?

Realtime Trains | 1852 Edinburgh to Birmingham New Street | 10/02/2024

Real-time train running information for 1852 departure from Edinburgh to Birmingham New Street on 10/02/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Over 70 trains cancelled so far today, and it keeps going up. And this is after the pre Christmas promise to be able to run a full Saturday service from the new year, they can't even rum a reduced service, never mind a full service.
They are clearly not fit to run the service. Let's hope Labour keeps there promise (Doubtful) and gets rid of them.

How do you think Labour will solve the problems any better than today?
If you mean running ICWC like the OLR operators (LNER, Northern, TPE) there's not much difference there.

 

[Falcon1200]

Not a cancellation as such, but why did last night's 1852 Avanti West Coast departure from Edinburgh Waverley for Birmingham New Street (via Carlisle) depart/run late?

Inward train, 9S70 1216 ex Euston, did not arrive at Edinburgh until 1903. However the 1852, 9M62 then took 26 minutes to get from Edinburgh to Haymarket instead of the booked 4, being delayed by the preceding 1Y95 1904 Edinburgh-Glasgow C and 2P15 1907 Edinburgh-Dunblane; Presumably either an issue with 1Y95 or at Haymarket.

 

[Class800]

How do you think Labour will solve the problems any better than today?
If you mean running ICWC like the OLR operators (LNER, Northern, TPE) there's not much difference there.

Will? Not sure. Could? Ensure companies follow the rules to the letter.

 

[Clarence Yard]

That is the problem - the Company will be following the DfT rules to the letter. The DfT make the key decisions and if they won’t sign off or let the Company conclude a RDW agreement, there is not much they can do about it. This applies to other key decisions that, in normal circumstances, a private company would decide itself.

 

[Class800]

That is the problem - the Company will be following the DfT rules to the letter. The DfT make the key decisions and if they won’t sign off or let the Company conclude a RDW agreement, there is not much they can do about it. This applies to other key decisions that, in normal circumstances, a private company would decide itself.

Government can influence DfT. I was meaning more about following the NRCoC to the letter and consumer law

 

[Merseysider]

While not yesterday but Friday I did notice that again they cancelled 21:15 Manchester-Euston service which is the last one from Manchester, not to sure how you go about getting home if you've missed that one or went to get it only to find out it was cancelled.

CrossCountry are used to Avanti shafting their late evening passengers. Normally it goes like this…

Stockport, Macclesfield and Stoke are served by the 2125/2127 XC to Birmingham

Lichfield/Tamworth - change at Stafford for the 2232

Milton Keynes, Watford, London, take XC and change at BHM for the 2311

…in theory. However, none of that is any use when there’s an event on and a 4 carriage Voyager turns up!

 

[AdamWW]

How do you think Labour will solve the problems any better than today?
If you mean running ICWC like the OLR operators (LNER, Northern, TPE) there's not much difference there.

They might take a different approach to industrial relations.

 

[Carlisle]

They might take a different approach to industrial relations.

But I don’t get the impression industrial relations are any worse than at any other English TOC. The honeymoon period when Virgin entered the scene is long gone no matter who takes over in future .

 

[AdamWW]

But I don’t get the impression industrial relations are any worse than at any other English TOC.

Seems to be different in Wales though. Which might be significant. (Or not - I don't know any details).

 

[alastair]

Got caught by this yesterday. Got a text whilst tucked up in bed on the Sleeper heading north on Thursday night that my train home yesterday evening had been cancelled (at least, it wasn't going beyond Carlisle). Staff shortage, apparently. This was the last train of the day so a hurried and much more expensive booking on LNER had to be made, as we were unable to travel any earlier.
But Avanti were very efficient in one regard - from applying for my refund to it being processed took 11 minutes.

Obviously I don't know where you were travelling from and to or what kind of ticket you had, but in principle should not AWC have been obligated to sort this out for you, or does the fact that you had advance notice mean it was all down to you?
I'm just interested for if/when this ever happens to me! Thanks.

 

[andythebrave]

Got caught by this yesterday. Got a text whilst tucked up in bed on the Sleeper heading north on Thursday night that my train home yesterday evening had been cancelled (at least, it wasn't going beyond Carlisle). Staff shortage, apparently. This was the last train of the day so a hurried and much more expensive booking on LNER had to be made, as we were unable to travel any earlier.
But Avanti were very efficient in one regard - from applying for my refund to it being processed took 11 minutes.

I'm somewhat surprised that they didn't tell you to change at Carlisle on to the Edinburgh-Euston via Birmingham.
But, then again, maybe it's not so surprising after all.

 

[AdamWW]

Obviously I don't know where you were travelling from and to or what kind of ticket you had, but in principle should not AWC have been obligated to sort this out for you, or does the fact that you had advance notice mean it was all down to you?
I'm just interested for if/when this ever happens to me! Thanks.

I believe that these days the industry now works on the principle that the timetable is whatever they decide it should be by 22:00 on the day before travel (the "published timetable of the day"). Any other timetable (printed one, journey planners consulted before that point) are just indications of what they aim to provide.

So in their view they aren't cancelling the last train of the day, they're just providing a timetable on that day where the last train runs earlier than when the ticket was booked, and therefore they have no obligation to provide an alternative.

Just to make this even less helpful, there doesn't seem to be any simple way to find out whether changes were made before or after the magic 22:00 deadline.

This may or may not actually be legal.

 

[43066]

But I don’t get the impression industrial relations are any worse than at any other English TOC. The honeymoon period when Virgin entered the scene is long gone no matter who takes over in future .

Then you would be very wrong, certainly based on feedback from people I know there. It’s bad, and worse than at most TOCs (albeit improved slightly since the depths of last year), appears to be the consensus.

 

[infobleep]

I believe that these days the industry now works on the principle that the timetable is whatever they decide it should be by 22:00 on the day before travel (the "published timetable of the day"). Any other timetable (printed one, journey planners consulted before that point) are just indications of what they aim to provide.

So in their view they aren't cancelling the last train of the day, they're just providing a timetable on that day where the last train runs earlier than when the ticket was booked, and therefore they have no obligation to provide an alternative.

Just to make this even less helpful, there doesn't seem to be any simple way to find out whether changes were made before or after the magic 22:00 deadline.

This may or may not actually be legal.

Timetable History - Tracking Timetable Changes in Great Britain

The above Web site is how you can find out changes to the timetable.

 

[Merseysider]

Obviously I don't know where you were travelling from and to or what kind of ticket you had, but in principle should not AWC have been obligated to sort this out for you, or does the fact that you had advance notice mean it was all down to you?
I'm just interested for if/when this ever happens to me! Thanks.

The ticket is evidence of a contract and Avanti cancelling the train does not absolve them of their obligations; the NRCoT and PRO cover such situations.

In short, don’t refund the original ticket as it’s still valid & the useless TOC concerned still has to get you to your destination and/or pay for overnight accommodation to allow you to complete the journey.

Of course, Avanti have form for making it as difficult as possible for passengers to avail themselves of their rights.

 

[AdamWW]

Timetable History - Tracking Timetable Changes in Great Britain

The above Web site is how you can find out changes to the timetable.

And it's great that there's a third party method of finding out but I doubt that many passengers will be aware of this.

You'd think at the least there would be an official and obvious way of accessing the published timetable of the day for a given day.

 

[infobleep]

And it's great that there's a third party method of finding out but I doubt that many passengers will be aware of this.

You'd think at the least there would be an official and obvious way of accessing the published timetable of the day for a given day.

You are right about not many people know about it.

Although I located the site very easily today, in the past I have struggled to find it when I couldn't remember the web address.

 

[EZJ]

Then you would be very wrong, certainly based on feedback from people I know there. It’s bad, and worse than at most TOCs (albeit improved slightly since the depths of last year), appears to be the consensus.

Believe it or not drivers at TPE are actually knocking job offers back from Avanti as the reports are so bad about how it is to work there!!