Avanti West Coast: Ticket sales pass £1bn despite operating troubles

Turnover at Avanti West Coast jumped past £1bn last year, even as it was named as one of the least reliable rail operators in Britain, it has been revealed.

The train operator, which is jointly owned by Firstgroup and Italian rail firm, Trenitalia, has posted a turnover of £1.01bn for the 12 months to 31 March, 2024, up from £967.4m.

Newly-filed accounts with Companies House have also revealed that Avanti West Coast’s pre-tax profit slipped from £12.8m to £12.3m over the same period.

Avanti took over the running of the west coast mainline from Virgin Trains in December 2019 and is 70 per cent owned by FirstGroup and 30 per cent owned by Trenitalia.

Avanti West Coast operates train services Between London Euston and Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Holyhead, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and Glasgow.

Its latest accounts also show that it issued a dividend of £8.1m in the year, down from £11m.

Passenger revenue totalled just over £1bn, up from £808.9m while the number of people using Avanti West Coast trains were 83 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, up from 67 per cent.

During the year, Avanti West Coast returned a net payment to the Department for Transport (DfT) of £21.9m, a year after having received a subsidy of £92.4m.

According to figures from the Office of Rail and Road, Avanti West Coast had the third worst reliability of all operators in Britain in the year to 31 March, 2024.

The equivalent of one in 15 trains (6.9 per cent) were cancelled in the 12 months – including services being scrapped before 10pm the night before due to crew shortages.

Avanti West Coast’s contract has a maximum term of nine years but the government can terminate the deal at any point after three years with three months’ notice.

The new Labour government is working on plans to nationalise almost all passenger rail services within five years.

Ministers hope to do this by bringing passenger rail contracts, which are currently operated by private train companies, into a new arms-length body – Great British Railways – when they expire.

Avanti West Coast has ‘singular focus’

A statement signed off by the board said: “The company is working hard with a singular focus on delivering the service that customers expect.

“The company has reached an agreement with the relevant trade unions on the incremental use of rest day working for train drivers, which helps support operational resilience.

“The company also continues to work with the DfT and other stakeholders on its plans to deliver long term improvements in customer experience and resilience.

“The company is also continuing to undertake unprecedented levels of driver recruitment and training to help sustain good performance.”