It’s a sad indictment of the industry if that is true. The railway is failing so badly the operator of last resort has failed to step in take over from an operator that has failed as badly as Avanti because it is too busy.
Do you think that this is perhaps what the dft want? If people aren’t using the railway because of the appalling service they have the perfect excuse to reduce the amount of money being put in.
Did you have one in mind?
You've made some very important points. This is no ordinary contract because of the connections to HS2 development. It's unlikely that OLR - whoever is involved in that - has the expertise to come in at very short notice and replace those aspects of the West Coast operation. Some posters obviously dislike Avanti and think it should be kicked out asap, and believe that the DfT is up to something nefarious because it hasn't done that, whereas it's far more likely that the practical issues like the timescale for obtaining more drivers have led to the extension.
That argument doesn’t hold water. Avanti management can’t even operate a service reduced by 50% on the current network but uniquely have the skills and experience to operate a high speed service. Somewhat farfetched.
As you say, you cannot compare Policing to the railways, they are two totally different topics. Arguing that someone is incapacitated about raising an important issue for their constituents because you disagree with his policies elsewhere makes little sense.
I certainly hope it's the latter.
This is exactly the point. Avanti will be a mess for at least another 6 months. Whoever operates the franchise until April will be dogged by all their current issues including strikes, reduced timetables, insufficient traincrew numbers and diminished staff goodwill.
I think Avanti should definitely lose the franchise, but the idea that the govt is going to cancel HS2 at this stage is for the birds. Don't get me wrong - I can't stand this govt - I am pro HS2 - and if this was 2 years ago and COVID had already hit us at that stage, Truss would have cheerfully cancelled HS2 in full. But given the level of construction already completed, the financial penalties for cancelling and 2a already have been approved by Parliament, it seems vanishingly unlikely that the network will not at least be built out to Manc and Manc Airport as a minimum. With a strong chance of the Tories losing the next election it looks very likely that the Eastern leg will eventually be approved and built too (maybe in a revised form)But if people really want a conspiracy theory, how about this: DfT really wants an excuse to cancel HS2, it expects Avanti to have failed to improve things significantly by next April, there's no way of replicating the input of Trenitalia, so OLR takes over just to run the West Coast operations and HS2 is dropped. NB this conspiracy theory is copyright
If thats a nett increase in establishment that should allow the timetable to be fully restored surely.
Really, based on what?
Isn't that why the government have given Avanti a 6 month extension? Nothing to do with last chance saloon but everything to do with if Avanti do get their act together before Xmas everything will be forgotten by spring and they can then award them a multi-year contract without too much fuss.
At the moment yes but that won't be forever.
I agree, the way people goes in, you'd think the Government were going to scrap it.
Given the Prime Minister has been in Cabinet for a decade, the Tory Party remains in power and we have a professional Civil Service providing professional continuity, it really is a failure's charter to say that Westminster was not prepared.
If Avanti is extended it will expand failure and inadequacy into the launch of HS2.
It's been far longer than 4 months of mayhem on Avanti. The Manchester and Birmingham routes have been alternated between 1, 2 and 3tph at least 4 times this year alone!
