Speculation Avanti is days away from being nationalised – we asked the Department for Transport for the truth

It would see services brought under emergency public control by a business that acts on behalf of the government when companies fail or breach the terms of their contract.

The Board of Transport for the North made up of mayors and council leaders, unanimously backed a move to ask the Secretary of State to terminate Avanti West Coast’s contract and bring it into public ownership on Wednesday.

It comes after months of significant disruption and regular cancellations.

But the Department for Transport said stripping the rail operator's contract would make matters worse.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Stripping Avanti’s contract would just cause more upheaval for passengers rather than solving the challenges the operator is facing.

"These include restrictive working practices that can’t be reformed without Aslef’s agreement.

“Following the government’s intervention to put the operator on successive short-term contracts, Avanti did make significant progress during the first half of 2023.

"However, improvements still need to be made, which is why it’s important the operator continues to address the underlying challenges it faces and the government continues to hold it to account, if it doesn’t.”

The department said restrictive terms and conditions mean too often Avanti's management cannot put its workforce where the passenger actually needs them – for example, drivers can't do more than one return journey on the same line per shift.

It previously placed Avanti West Coast on two consecutive short-term, six month contracts and required the operator to develop a recovery plan aimed at addressing poor performance on vital routes – including between Manchester, Birmingham and London.

The department said that during 2023 it had seen Avanti make significant improvements, with more reliable and punctual services and greater customer satisfaction.

It took the decision to award Avanti with a long-term contract, but admitted there was still work to do.

The department added that much of the recent disruption to Avanti services had been caused by issues such as recent poor infrastructure reliability, industrial action and weather.