Intercity rail passengers on the West Coast main line should see a return to an almost normal service by December, MPs have been told.
The Transport Select Committee summoned Richard Scott, representing the much-criticised Avanti West Coast operation, to its hearing on summer travel disruption.
In July passengers travelling between the West Midlands, northwest England, southern Scotland and London suffered hundreds of train cancellations. Avanti West Coast blamed a sudden, collective refusal of drivers to work on their rest days. Around 500 trains per day had previously been crewed on overtime, but volunteers dried up as a long and bitter industrial dispute intensified.
In August Avanti West Coast brought in an emergency timetable, with key links from Manchester and Birmingham reduced by as much as two-thirds.
But Mr Scott said when a new timetable takes effect in December, trains between London and Manchester would once again run every 20 minutes, as they did before the coronavirus pandemic, and that almost all other services will be restored.
He told MPs: “We are absolutely focused on making this better. We need to deliver a better service for our passengers, for our communities, for the businesses that we serve and drive regional economic growth.
“I am pleased to say we have made progress. In the last week the cancellations are down to around one in 20 – that is still much higher than we would like, but it is significantly better than it was at the start of the summer.
“We’re continuing to work with a sole focus on improving the timetable, making it robust and sustainable for all our passengers.”
Christian Wakeford, Labour MP for Bury South in Greater Manchester, challenged Mr Scott about a Wednesday morning cancellation on the West Coast main line to London.
“The 8.55 from [Manchester] Piccadilly this morning had a platform dedicated for the train, and it was cancelled with next to no notice,” he said.
“When’s the progress going to start?”
Mr Scott replied: “We are making progress. I am sorry about that individual case.
“There will always be short-notice cancellations. But the percentage of short-notice cancellations has dropped by two-thirds since the start of this particular problem.
“We’re not there yet by any stretch of the imagination, but we are making progress.”
He said the improved schedule would not rely on rest-day working.
Avanti West Coast told passengers the cancellation of the 8.55am was “due to train crew being…
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