Avanti West Coast is set to reduce approximately one in seven trains on its busiest intercity routes this summer in a bid to lower costs. The train operator announced it will trim its timetable between London Euston and Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester in response to a government directive to decrease expenditure.
Typically, Avanti runs 248 daily services on the affected routes. However, during the summer months when demand is lower, 38 weekday trains will be removed from the schedule. The Department for Transport (DfT), led by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, has approved the revised timetable, which will take effect from 20 July.
The affected trains will be removed from the schedule before they become available for advance ticket purchases online. Notably, the threatened 7:00 am Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston fast service, which was reinstated in December after public outcry, will continue to operate as usual.
The government has been seeking to reduce overall spending on rail, with annual net funding remaining at approximately £12 billion in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Avanti stated that the "demand-led timetabling" will only affect routes where alternative trains are available to minimize disruption and should not reduce revenue.
Avanti operates fast intercity trains between London and Glasgow on the West Coast Mainline. According to the latest statistics from the Office of Rail and Road, Avanti has by some distance the worst punctuality record in the national rail network. However, surveys indicate that customer satisfaction has improved, and Avanti has significantly increased the number of services running since its COVID-era troubles, when drivers refused to work overtime and forced a drastic timetable reduction.
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson commented: "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."
A DfT spokesperson added: "The secretary of state has accepted Avanti’s short-term proposals to amend its weekday summer timetable, when passenger numbers are considerably lower and many trains run with large numbers of empty seats. This will save taxpayers’ money while still meeting passenger demand for seats."
Train services operated by Avanti are expected to be nationalized early in 2027 as the government returns operations to public ownership under Great British Railways. The operator clarified that the latest reduction in services is not due to a lack of resources. Like all remaining franchised train operators, Avanti is tightly contracted to the DfT. The company has had a chequered history with state funding, which was described in slides leaked from an internal management meeting in 2024 as "free money."
