The rail company, which runs trains between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, canceled a further 12 services on Monday morning, the first full day of an already drastically reduced emergency timetable. Avanti has reduced the number of trains between London Euston and Manchester from one every 20 minutes to one an hour as part of the “until further notice” cuts and is only allowing tickets to be bought a few days in advance. The tight timetable is supposed to prevent sudden cancellations, which Avanti blamed on the “current industrial relations climate” which included increased sickness absence and “unofficial strike action by Aslef members”. The union rejected this, saying the rail operator had long relied on train staff working on rest days to deliver services. Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said in the letter to Shapps that Avanti’s action “caused understandable outrage” and badly affected local economies and that it was “the most basic duty” of a train operator to ensure it was adequately staffed. “The public will find it excellent despite the fact that the cities have been cut off, your department continues to deliver the same constant routine fee to the private operator,” he wrote. “You cannot continue to wash your hands of responsibility, nor continue to reward failure without consequences.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Haigh said Shapps should demand a plan from Avanti to restore the full schedule, seek compensation from the company for services not being performed and, if not satisfied, “commit to begin the process of withdrawing the contract ». Andy Burnham, the Labor mayor of Greater Manchester, also called on Shapps to take action after the 12 new cancellations. He tweeted: “This is a failed service. I ask the transport secretary again: are you prepared to meet us as a matter of urgency to agree a plan to restore normal services?’ Shapps takes a generally aggressive stance towards rail unions, accusing them of standing in the way of much-needed reforms in the industry. In a letter over the weekend to Burnham and two other Labor mayors in cities affected by Avanti – Sadiq Khan in London and Steve Rotherham, the mayor of Liverpool Metro – Sapps said it was normal for Avanti to demand “ a degree of voluntary working days’. to meet its timetable, but that these had been reduced by 90% as part of informal industrial action. A Department for Transport spokesman said: “People deserve certainty and confidence that their train will run on time, and while this movement was unavoidable, it should minimize the impact on passengers. “This is a prime example of why we need to modernize our railways so passengers benefit from reliable services that don’t rely on the goodwill of drivers volunteering to work overtime in the first place.” Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan has flatly denied there is any informal industrial action beyond the wider rail strikes, the latest of which took place on Saturday.
