Mark Harper, take West Coast Mainline into public ownership

Cancelled, delayed and overcrowded trains have become the order of the day on the Avanti-run West Coast Mainline, while the company is paying out millions in dividends to shareholders.

It is time Transport Secretary Mark Harper, and Rail Minister Huw Merriman step up and take the West Coast Mainline into public ownership.

Take 2 minutes to send them our letter now.

Department for Transport

Secretary of State for Transport

Department for Transport

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I am writing to you today to ask that you call in the Operator of Last Resort to take over our West Coast Mainline. Avanti West Coast is an utter disaster!
Avanti’s contract was renewed on a short-term basis in October by your predecessor in the hope that they would improve the service, but it is clear that things are only getting worse. There are still too few trains, with planned journeys frequently cancelled. The problem of late trains and overcrowding is getting worse and this looks set to cause much more misery for passengers during the holiday period. Avanti has received significant subsidies from your government but rather than investing in our rail services has paid out £12 million in dividends to shareholders, including to the Italian taxpayer.
We know that rail services that are publicly-run by the Operator of Last Resort are doing a better job for passengers than privately-run services like Avanti. <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/avanti-west-coast-should-the-state-take-over-this-train-wreck-6kqfnqzbg">The Times</a> compared Avanti to publicly-owned LNER. They said: “Avanti’s performance scores, as rated by regulator the Office of Rail and Road, have lagged those of publicly run rival LNER in recent years… LNER is generally regarded as well run with lower fares.”
Two-thirds of LNER-run East Coast trains arrive on time, while over half of Avanti’s trains are delayed. And Avanti trains are cancelled four times more than East Coast trains.
It is time for you and your department to step up and save Christmas. 
In a speech to parliament in October, former Minister for Transport Kevin Foster made excuses on behalf of Avanti, saying “the primary cause of Avanti’s recent problems is a shortage of fully trained drivers. Avanti was heavily reliant on drivers volunteering to work additional days because of delays in training during Covid.”
But the truth is that there has been a breakdown in trust between the company and its workers. Two weeks ago, the <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/avanti-west-coast-train-staff-demoralised-rail-chaos-uniform-lner-1958458">i newspaper</a> reported that Avanti West Coast workers were so demoralised they were refusing to wear their uniforms. It is also clear that Avanti is now attempting to use the rail strikes as a scapegoat for their failures, which preceded the strikes. This shows a complete lack of commitment by Avanti to deal with these problems.
You need to step in. Even if Avanti West Coast somehow manages to secure the number of train drivers needed to deal with the issue, this company has demonstrated that it's utterly incapable of running a service to the standard passengers need and deserve. 
To cap it all off, it has been reported in the press this week that private train companies, including foreign-owned ones like Avanti West Coast (which, as you know, is part-owned by the Italian tax payer) have extracted around £3.2 billion from our railway. This is money that would have been reinvested into the railway if it was run for people and not profit.
You can salvage Christmas and make the New Year a fresh start for our trains. I am asking you to step in and take over the West Coast Mainline and run it for passengers.

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