A MOVE by Tory ministers to hand crisis-hit Avanti West Coast another contract extension is “reward for failure,” rail unions charged today.

The private operator, owned by FirstGroup and Italian state-run firm Trenitalia, introduced a new timetable in December 2022 after massive staff shortages saw it cancel nearly a quarter of all services last summer.

Despite the poor record, the operator, which runs trains on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Glasgow Central, is set to keep the contract for a further six months from the end of March until October 15. 

FirstGroup boss Graham Sutherland said he is “working closely with the government to deliver a successful railway,” while Transport Secretary Mark Harper claimed Avanti’s improvement plan, produced after the operator was handed a previous six-month extension in October last year, is “working.”

“However, there is still more work to be done to bring services up to the standards we expect,” he added.

Rail union RMT, which has repeatedly slammed Avanti’s attempt to blame ongoing train strikes for the disruption, slammed the move, saying it means bosses can “continue to make profits on what even ministers have admitted is still a substandard service.”

General secretary Mick Lynch stressed: “The government is keeping privatisation afloat regardless of the cost to rail passengers, rail workers and the taxpayer and the service itself.

“It is quite clear that the West Coast contract should be bought back into public ownership along with the rest of the railway.”

Peter Pendle, head of fellow transport union TSSA, said: “No advanced ticket sales and services from London to Manchester still cut to just one train an hour is not the kind of railway that passengers deserve.

“The Conservatives are rewarding Avanti’s failure with another chance to let passengers down rather than doing the right thing and bringing the route into public ownership.”

Train drivers’ union Aslef’s leader Mick Whelan blasted the “extraordinary” decision, adding: “Avanti has become a byword for failure but the government doesn’t seem to care.

“The company is laughing all the way to the bank — ker-ching! — as it puts up fares while letting passengers down.”

And Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “If this is what success looks like to ministers, it shows that under the Conservatives our broken railways are here to stay.”