Avanti West Coast - Renationalisation on March 7th 2027

[KashmireHawker]

The Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander has announced that Avanti will come into Government control on Sunday March 7th 2027.

In a statement issued this evening, she says:

“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.

"This Labour government is committed to putting essential services back in public hands, connecting people to opportunity and delivering growth in every postcode – and this move reflects that commitment.

"We will also introduce a comprehensive improvement plan, focused on delivering for passengers, not shareholders."

The formal announcement will be made in her speech to The Labour Party Annual Conference tomorrow.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/avanti-west-coast-nationalised-march-n3f9lgrn3

 

[Rail Ranger]

Rail magazine are saying that Avanti West Coast will be merged with London Northwestern to form a single business unit called "One West Coast". It is mentioned in this article: https://www.railmagazine.com/news/e...ontinues-as-chiltern-railways-is-nationalised
You need to subscribe to the RAIL newsletter (which is free) to read the article. This is a quote from the article: "The ongoing dispute over East West Rail (EWR) operations continued as Chiltern Railways became the latest nationalised operator.

The formerly Arriva-run operator was the tenth to join Department for Transport Operator Ltd (DFTO) on September 20, forming an integrated West Midlands business unit led by Managing Director Denise Wetton.

This currently encompass West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway routes, although the latter will join Avanti West Coast in 2027 in a business unit due to be called One West Coast. Avanti is expected to be the next nationalised operator after Great Western Railway joins DFTO in December".

So a merger between two parts of the railway will create a new split between WMR and LNwR.

 

[StephenHunter]

Rail magazine are saying that Avanti West Coast will be merged with London Northwestern to form a single business unit called "One West Coast".

The 11.21 One West Coast service?

 

[Kite159]

"We will also introduce a comprehensive improvement plan, focused on delivering for passengers

I will place 10p on that involving timetable cuts, similar to what happened with TPE. Although it will be eggs on their faces (again) when nothing changes post March 2027.

 

[800001]

The 11.21 One West Coast service?

From platform 1?

 

[Some guy]

Be interesting how it works guessing one will be intercity and the other regional but under same brand

 

[The Planner]

Rail magazine are saying that Avanti West Coast will be merged with London Northwestern to form a single business unit called "One West Coast".

NR are already setting its side of this up.

 

[Undiscovered]

Rail magazine are saying that Avanti West Coast will be merged with London Northwestern to form a single business unit called "One West Coast".

That would fit with the separation of West Midlands Trains (or whatever their technical name is, under DfT operation) coming under the control of the Birmingham City Mayor, much like GMPTE was, under Andy Burnham.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What a silly name - we've been there before with NatEx's Anglia operation ("One West Anglia"). Is that the 12:20 One West Coast service, or the 12:21 West Coast service?

If this is the underlying company only fair enough, but one can but hope they don't use it as a public facing brand!

 

[KashmireHawker]

An Avanti West Coast statement about transfer into public ownership, from Andy Mellors, Managing Director:

“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved over the last six years - from refurbishing our Pendolino fleet and introducing our new Evero trains to running more services than ever before. Together, these improvements have given customers greater choice, more capacity and better connectivity, while we’ve continued to innovate to shape the future of the West Coast and wider rail industry.

“Over the coming months, we’ll work closely with the government to ensure a seamless transition into public ownership while remaining focused on delivering for our customers and communities.”

Statement about transfer to public ownership | Avanti West Coast News

Avanti West Coast statement about transfer into public ownership.

newsdesk.avantiwestcoast.co.uk

 

[Sorcerer]

Considering it was all falling under Great British Railways eventually, why not just go with "West Coast" as a temporary name before bringing it under GBR InterCity? Given it is alleged to be merging with London Northwestern I think something like "LMS Railway" or just "LMS" would've been more fitting than "One West Coast".

 

[A S Leib]

That would fit with the separation of West Midlands Trains (or whatever their technical name is, under DfT operation) coming under the control of the Birmingham City West Midlands combined / strategic authority Mayor, much like GMPTE was, under Andy Burnham.

Will that include Shrewsbury and Hereford services, given that they're mostly outside the West, Midlands mayoralty but there's not really any other bit they'd make sense as right now and not tonnes of benefit to rebranding it (possibly one of CrossCountry's successors in the longer term?).

 

[Chris172]

I wonder how it'll effect the guards at WMR and LNR where there is a 13-15k difference in salary if they merge with Avanti

 

[Sorcerer]

I wonder how it'll effect the guards at WMR and LNR where there is a 13-15k difference in salary if they merge with Avanti

Short term you could maybe have it as part of a link or depot structure within the organisation, but I expect this might actually be something that gets resolved when GBR starts negotiations over unified T&Cs, because having such variations within a single organisation is just asking for needless complications.

 

[Undiscovered]

Will that include Shrewsbury and Hereford services, given that they're mostly outside the West, Midlands mayoralty but there's not really any other bit they'd make sense as right now and not tonnes of benefit to rebranding it (possibly one of CrossCountry's successors in the longer term?).

If it's run by WMT, it'll come under their remit.
There's talk of service changes along the Marches/Crewe routes, which would fit with the TfW/GBR split. Result would free up stock and capacity on TfW, while maximising usage of WMT assets. Those rumours are probably covered in a desperate, speculative ideas, thread

 

[befated]

I hope this doesn’t spell the end of LNR/WMR only walkups.

 

[Toby268]

Rail magazine are saying that Avanti West Coast will be merged with London Northwestern to form a single business unit called "One West Coast".

Do you have a link for this?

 

[Kite159]

I hope this doesn’t spell the end of LNR/WMR only walkups.

No doubt will get axed and replaced with yet more advances

 

[High Dyke]

The 11.21 One West Coast service?

From platform 1?

Would passengers use Zone 1 for Coach...

 

[Undiscovered]

I wonder how it'll effect the guards at WMR and LNR where there is a 13-15k difference in salary if they merge with Avanti

They'll either keep their terms and conditions, or sell them, like Avanti did, for £15kpa, plus a one-off lump sum as an incentive.

Restructuring will happen to incoming staff, if it happens at all.

 

[GPR]

Short term you could maybe have it as part of a link or depot structure within the organisation, but I expect this might actually be something that gets resolved when GBR starts negotiations over unified T&Cs, because having such variations within a single organisation is just asking for needless complications.

Sounds like more of a headache trying to put all the terms and conditions the same across the board.
Why wouldn’t they just keep it as is and have the routes, staff and pay stay the same as they are now?

 

[Snow1964]

For the record, Andy Burnham's Facebook comment

Enough is enough.
For years, people have been expected to put up with Avanti’s cancellations, delays, overcrowding, and a service that has failed them time and time again.
So my Labour government is bringing Avanti West Coast into public ownership at the earliest opportunity in March next year.
That means passengers, not shareholders, will come first.
More investment, fewer delays, and a renewed focus on getting the basics right.
We're putting essential services back in public hands and building a railway that actually works for the people who use it.

"Building a railway that actually works". Either I have missed something happening or that is extreme PR spin

Andy Burnham

Enough is enough. For years, people have been expected to put up with Avanti’s cancellations, delays, overcrowding, and a service that has failed them time and time again. So my Labour government...

www.facebook.com

 

[Bletchleyite]

They'll either keep their terms and conditions, or sell them, like Avanti did, for £15kpa, plus a one-off lump sum as an incentive.

Restructuring will happen to incoming staff, if it happens at all.

Given that they're basically creating something a bit like GWR by merging the InterCity trunk with some of its feeder/supporting local services, how does it work on GWR? I assume regional drivers/guards get less than intercity ones just as they did in BR days?

 

[Olivine]

What was the original proposed date of renationalisation or was this TBC?

 

[Sorcerer]

Sounds like more of a headache trying to put all the terms and conditions the same across the board.
Why wouldn’t they just keep it as is and have the routes, staff and pay stay the same as they are now?

I'm not saying that can't happen, but I don't know how unusual it would be for a single organisation to have so many variations on terms and conditions. You could have two drivers applying for the same company in the same city but because one works for what used to be Northern their conditions will be different than one who works for Avanti.

For the record, Andy Burnham's Facebook comment


"Building a railway that actually works". Either I have missed something happening or that is extreme PR spin

Andy Burnham

Enough is enough. For years, people have been expected to put up with Avanti’s cancellations, delays, overcrowding, and a service that has failed them time and time again. So my Labour government...

www.facebook.com

This feels like yet another gimmick from Labour acting like they're putting their foot down on a poorly performing operator rather than simply doing what they already planned to do anyway. I expect people might ask "on that logic, why is CrossCountry not nationalised then?".

 

[Kite159]

For the record, Andy Burnham's Facebook comment

Andy Burnham

Enough is enough. For years, people have been expected to put up with Avanti’s cancellations, delays, overcrowding, and a service that has failed them time and time again. So my Labour government...

www.facebook.com

And based on other operators which have transferred to GBR, it will be a laughing stock on the 8th March when a Network Rail related signal failure or another event causing large delays/cancellations. Just look at Northern for a shining example of how great publicly owned operators are

But don't worry they will follow the example set by LNER to getting rid of off-peak tickets and moving towards an airline style model, where it will be advances for most (or if you want flexibility paying the eye watering expensive anytime fare), That will solve overcrowding as removal of the pesky off-peak tickets would allow the price cap for advances to get removed on busy weekends

 

[sot]

Indeed, won't be the best if it bins off the WMT only or similar tickets.

Maybe they will then allow fast intercities.
Maybe a pig will fly.

 

[Sorcerer]

I know that the government want to only apply the GBR livery when trains are due for some refurbishments, but I wonder if the Avanti fleet will be an exception to this out of a desire to move away from the image of what has been a rather controversial operator.

 

[Rail Ranger]

Do you have a link for this?

It's in this article: https://www.railmagazine.com/news/e...ontinues-as-chiltern-railways-is-nationalised
You need to sign up to the RAIL newsletter (which is free) to read the article.

 

[A S Leib]

I hope this doesn’t spell the end of LNR/WMR only walkups.

The most passenger-friendly option (not necessarily the most friendly to the Treasury, so wouldn't bet on it happening) is the LNR/WMR or Chiltern (+ connections) flexible tickets being merged at a price point close to whichever's currently the lower of the two.