Avanti West Coast to be nationalised as ministers say ‘enough is enough’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said passengers had paid the price for years of underperformance on one of Britain’s busiest rail routes.
Avanti West Coast will be brought into public ownership from 7 March next year, the government has announced, ending the operator’s contract to run trains on the West Coast Main Line.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “For years, we’ve heard stories of Avanti underperforming, with passengers left paying the price. Enough is enough.”
“That is why we will bring Avanti into public ownership at the earliest opportunity, in March next year,” Alexander said.
Alexander said the change would create “a publicly owned organisation that better integrates the management of the tracks and the trains so that we get rid of the perverse incentives and this blame factory that has existed for the last few decades.”
Alexander said the London-Manchester service “hasn’t been good enough for far too long now” and that passengers would “start to see a difference” once it passed into public hands.
Avanti recorded the highest proportion of cancellations of any operator in Britain over the summer, at roughly twice the national average, and a peak-time return ticket between Manchester and London has cost as much as £370.
The government will use a termination right written into Avanti’s existing contract to take over the service when it expires on 7 March 2027.
It said it would add £10 million for power and signalling maintenance on top of £840 million already committed to upgrading infrastructure on the West Coast Main Line, alongside changes to timetables, improvements at London Euston station and better on-board internet connectivity.
The government has said long-term underinvestment in the line’s infrastructure, rather than the operator alone, is the biggest cause of disruption for passengers.
Avanti will become the fifth train operator to be brought into public ownership since Labour won power in 2024, following London North Eastern Railway, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express.
CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway are still to be transferred as the government works towards its plan to bring the network under Great British Railways.
Performance has improved on some of the lines already nationalised, with London North Eastern Railway recording fewer cancellations and better punctuality, while other operators have seen mixed results since the switch.