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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2023 :: RMTnews
20
RMT has condemned the
decision to extend the Avanti
West Coast contract by yet
another six months.
RMT has already revealed
that the vast majority of Avanti
West Coast cancellations are
down to staff shortages and
called for the company to be
stripped of its franchise.
On top of this failing
service the disgraced train
operator plans to scrap at seat
service catering from May
which will mean standard class
passengers will not have the
option of an at seat service,
serving sandwiches, snacks
and drinks.
The company also plans to
reduce catering services for
first class passengers by
removing the full breakfast
option at weekends.
RMT general secretary Mick
Lynch said that this was a case
of reward for failure which will
mean that Avanti owners First
Group can continue to make
profits on what even Ministers
have today admitted is still a
substandard service.
“The government is
keeping privatisation afloat
regardless of the cost to the
rail passengers, rail workers
and the taxpayer and the
service itself.
"The public should be put
out of their misery and the
West Coast should now be
placed within the publicly
owned Operator of Last
Resort.
"Ultimately there will be no
solution to the problems on
Britain’s railways until the
whole model of rail
privatisation is abolished in
favour of direct public
ownership,” he said.
Avanti has already been
granted a temporary six-
month extension to its
franchise following high levels
of cancellations and multiple
industrial disputes with its
staff.
Updated Office for Rail and
Road (ORR) data has revealed
that Avanti West Coast has
cancelled on average 17 per
cent of its planned trains since
it brought in its new timetable
last December.
These figures represent
cancellations on non-strike
days and so in no way can
they be attributed to industrial
action.
The ORR data show that 60
per cent of cancellations are
attributed to the responsibility
of Avanti under the category
‘Train Fault’ but RMT data,
collected from Avanti’s own
internal communications,
show that since December
11 the vast majority of these
shortages were attributed by
the company itself to
shortages of staff.
This is in line with an RMT
survey held around the same
time which showed that Avanti
staff had no confidence that
the new timetable could be
delivered because the
company was so short-
staffed.
Between December 11 and
January 8, Avanti cancelled 22
per cent of their planned
trains. Between January 9 and
February 5, they cancelled 12
per cent, almost three times
the average for Great Britain
in the same period.
Avanti is still running fewer
trains than they did before
August 2022 and cancelling
nearly as many as they did
before their reduced timetable
was brought in.
RMT and MPs and metro
mayors have all been calling
for the company to be
stripped of its franchise.
Labour’s Shadow Transport
Secretary Louise Haigh MP
said that Avanti had literally
broken records over the last
six months for delays and
cancellations, and the
Conservatives’ answer is to
reward failure with millions
more in taxpayer cash.
“If this is what success
looks like to ministers, it
shows that under the
Conservatives our broken
railways are here to stay,” she
said.
Union joins calls from MPs and regional mayors
for company to be stripped of franchise
RMT CONDEMNS AVANTI WEST
COAST CONTRACT EXTENSION