Andy Burnham demands Avanti trains ultimatum after passengers hit by months of chaos
Andy Burnham has urged the Transport Secretary to demand increased Avanti West Coast train services between Manchester and London or remove its operating contract.
"Unless this happens and is clearly communicated, train travel between our most important economic regions will continue to be chaotic, forcing people into their cars or into abandoning plans to travel entirely. Without this commitment, I will be unable to support a new contract for Avanti. "Poor maintenance is resulting in broken toilets, air cooling and onboard café equipment. These dreadful conditions would be unacceptable at any time but are particularly so now given the wholesale collapse of the timetable, something no other train company is experiencing at anything like this scale."Avanti West Coast's contract expires on October 16, with the Department for Transport saying Government would 'consider all options'.
Avanti said it would use the national timetable changes in December to relaunch a 'stable and deliverable' three trains an hour service that wasn't reliant on rest day working or overtime, saying it now had more drivers 'in the business than ever before'.
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