Avanti West Coast to Be Nationalised From March
Services on the west coast main line will pass into public ownership when the operator’s contract ends on 7 March, the government has announced. Ministers cast it as part of a plan to cut delays and improve the passenger experience. Avanti, a joint venture between FirstGroup and the Italian state operator Trenitalia, said the change would cause minimal disruption and would not reduce revenues.
This is the completion of a process rather than a decision, since every operator on a Department for Transport contract is being taken into public ownership, and those contracts have determined the operators’ finances since March 2020. Great Western Railway follows in December; Greater Anglia and South Western Railway are already public; Wales nationalised its services in 2021 and Scotland in 2022. What makes Avanti different is its reputation: in May it said one in seven services on its busiest routes would be cut after the government asked it to reduce spending, which is the kind of record that makes nationalisation popular before it makes it effective. Ownership does not by itself add track, trains or drivers. Watch whether punctuality on the west coast line moves at all after March.