News Rumour: Avanti West Coast may be nationalised

[AlterEgo]

From Ava Evans:

Avanti West Coast Rail could be nationalised within days

The franchise will fall into emergency public control following months of disruption and cancellations.

www.joe.co.uk

Just a rumour at present:

On Wednesday morning, the Board of Transport for the North made up of mayors and council leaders, unanimously backed a move to ask the Secretary of State to terminate Avanti West Coast’s contract and bring it into public ownership – fuelling speculation of an imminent decision.

It follows months of significant disruption and regular cancellations, owing in part to an irreparable breakdown in relations between staff and management.

In September, the joint venture between UK-based FirstGroup and Italian train operator Trenitalia had been awarded a lucrative long-term contract to keep running intercity services on the west coast main line.

At the time, Transport Secretary Mark Harper described Britain’s least punctual operator in the country as “back on track”, despite warnings from the RMT union that Avanti were “an unmitigated disaster”.

 

[jfollows]

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/avanti-west-coast-cancellations.264350/page-4#post-6690956