Avanti West Coast to cut services to save money

One-in-seven rail services will be cut on Avanti West Coast's busiest routes following a government request to reduce expenditure, the operator has said.

About 38 daily weekday services will be removed from timetables during a six-week period from 20 July.

The company usually runs 248 daily services on the affected routes, which connect London Euston with Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, via the West Coast Main Line.

Avanti West Coast said it had proposed removing some services with lower demand in response to a request from the Department for Transport (DfT) to cut costs. The DfT has been approached for comment.

Avanti West Coast - a joint venture between FirstGroup (70%) and Italian state operator Trenitalia (30%) - predicted the move would cause minimum disruption to passengers and not reduce revenues.

All train services operated under DfT contracts are being transferred to public ownership.

But companies such as Avanti West Coast - which has yet to lose its services - have their finances heavily influenced by the DfT.

This is because of contracts introduced in March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: "From 20 July to 28 August we will be operating an amended timetable between London and Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester on weekdays.

"To ensure minimal impact to those travelling between the affected dates, these changes will only affect routes on which we operate more than one train per hour - during typically less busy periods of the day - maximising alternative journey options.

"We'd like to encourage customers planning to make journeys during this time to plan ahead, and thank them for their understanding."

Affected services are being removed from online ticketing services before becoming available for purchase.

Avanti West Coast temporarily slashed its timetables in August 2022 in an attempt to reduce short-notice cancellations after a sharp decline in the number of drivers voluntarily working overtime on rest days during industrial disputes across Britain's railways.

It has since boosted its capacity beyond pre-coronavirus levels.

The operator said the latest reduction in services was not because of a lack of resources.

Office of Rail and Road figures show government funding of the rail industry's operations was £11.9bn in the year to the end of March 2025.

That was down 7% from £12.7bn during the previous 12 months, but remained 47% above the total of £8.1bn in 2019/20.

Last year's spending represented 46% of the industry's costs, with fares revenue funding the vast majority of the rest.

In January 2024, Avanti West Coast apologised after taxpayer funding was described as "free money" during an internal meeting with managers.

Novara Media, which first reported the incident, published an image showing a presentation slide with the title: "Roll-up, roll-up -get your free money here!"

Another slide explained how train operators are paid bonuses by the government even if services are not run completely to schedule, under the service quality regime.

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