Oscar Wilde’s maxim that the only thing worse than talking is not talking does not apply to railways. As with air traffic control and nuclear reactors, the less said about them in the media, the better. The public want rail services to run safely, reliably and without fuss. If a train operator is in the news, it’s not likely to be a positive story. Few transport organizations have been as hotly debated as Avanti West Coast, which runs trains between London, the West Midlands, the north west of England, north Wales and southern Scotland. Sometimes. The company is a joint venture that includes First Group and Trenitalia (the Italian state-owned company). There is currently only one train an hour from Manchester and Birmingham to the capital, instead of three. Beware of gaps in schedules. On BBC Breakfast on Friday morning, transport secretary Grant Shapps protested that this was not the case – but he was sadly mistaken. His department signed off on the service cuts, which Avanti blames on drivers’ reluctance to work on days off and unusually high levels of sickness. Rail unions say the company just needs to employ more people. The train operator is hoping to boost services soon, I understand, but the severely reduced timetable is expected to be in place until at least 9 September. The passenger, meanwhile, is the unwilling victim in an all-powerful conflict that is ultimately between the government and the unions. The conflict can be summed up as follows: who runs the railways? Among many passengers on the West Coast Main Line, the impression at the moment is that no one is in control. Last Sunday afternoon my colleague Helen Coffey attempted a journey from Lancaster to London – the day after the Aslef drivers’ strike, so a particularly busy day. “The journey did not start smoothly as the train arrived about 15 minutes late,” he reports. “As soon as I got on board, it was clear that the air conditioning wasn’t working very well. Part way into the journey it was announced that the card machine was not working so food and drinks could not be purchased on board. “After some ominous announcements of a possible technical problem with the train and some very slow traffic, we pulled into Crewe.” This was not a planned stop, but Helen’s train could go no further. Passengers were told to take it to another platform to catch another Avanti service to London Euston, departing in just five minutes – the sort of obstacle course used for SAS training, I believe. “The train was packed with people and those without seats who were pregnant, elderly or otherwise vulnerable were advised to get off. We managed to get seats, but in a carriage with zero air conditioning. Again, the card machine on board didn’t work to buy drinks. The train finally departed, only to have to stop for another 15 to 20 minutes due to “animals on the track”, at which point both passengers and train staff were on the verge of hysteria. “The train manager made a harsh remark as soon as we moved again that ‘the train should be pulling into Euston in an hour, no other problems, but knowing our luck we’ll probably hit an iceberg on the way.’ Finally we arrived in London, sweating, more than 90 minutes late. But at least we made it – other services from Lancaster to London seemed to have been cancelled.” Above all other train operators, Avanti West Coast currently seems least fit for purpose. But that’s not necessarily the fault of the companies that own it, or the people who work for it. The train operator has unwittingly become a battlefield of ideologies. On the one hand, a government suddenly demanding radical productivity improvements after years of inaction, and union leaders who believe they can achieve success by walking away until ministers cave. There is very little room – literally and figuratively – for the passenger.
