Avanti West Coast has put a timetable improvement plan in place to help passengers plan and book their rail journeys.
This follows on from a call by the Office of Rail and Road for an immediate improvement after initial improvements stalled. This saw weekend timetables only being finalised a few days in advance, making it difficult for passengers to plan ahead.
The new, more resilient recovery plan, shows a pathway to a full recovery, by finalising timetables in line with the industry norm by mid-May.
The ORR says it recognises that major engineering work on the WCML in March and April adds complexity to the plan and has impacted on recovery timescales.
Avanti has published on its website the dates for when tickets are to be released, an important step to improving information for passengers.
Stephanie Tobyn, Director of Strategy, Policy and Reform at ORR said: “Now that Avanti has established an improved recovery plan, the onus is on them to deliver.
“It is positive to see some early improvements to passenger information, in particular the publication of dates when tickets are to be released to passengers.
“This early momentum needs to be sustained and we will closely monitor delivery on a weekly basis”.
Responses
What another AWC recovery plan.Timetable back to industry norms by mid May ( presumably this means being able to book ticket up 12 weeks in advance again? ). Mid May.Thats half the year gone already. I want to be able to book things NOW.
Another recovery plan ! As with other things the strikes need sorting and particularly the ASLEF dispute, as this is part of AWC ills.It is said that one reason Government does not put AWC into hands of “Operator of Last Resort ” is that body is grossly overstretched. All these problems on railways make it very difficult to contemplate booking leisure trips, as 12 booking period cannot be guaranteed. This issues drag on and on and so is this going to be another wasted railway travel year?
Then there are the problems with Transpennine Express???
Whatever happened to informed traveller bidding at T-18 weeks? That should have been as important to TOCs as punctuality, with hefty fines for missing the deadline. Bet they wouldn’t have thinned down planning teams then.
They are not a patch on Virgin . Public ownership now.
I was sorry to see the demise of Virgin but when making comparisons it is important to remember the joint disasters of Covid & strikes. Not that AWC is without blame for driver shortages & lack of strategies for resilience.