Labour has referred to as on ministers to claw again £12m in dividends paid by Avanti West Coast to its shareholders final yr, when it was subsidised by £343m by the taxpayer.
Figures launched by the rail watchdog on Tuesday confirmed that Avanti paid out £12m in 2021-22 from administration and efficiency charges.
The dividends have been paid to the house owners teams First Group and Trenitalia earlier than the depths of the present disaster. Nevertheless, in that monetary yr Avanti recorded the worst efficiency for punctuality amongst prepare operators, in the reduction of the variety of prepare companies it scheduled and nonetheless cancelled virtually 3,600 trains, in response to figures from Workplace of Rail and Street (ORR).
Underneath the emergency contracts, the Avanti West Coast operation acquired a £343m internet subsidy from the taxpayer within the yr, protecting the distinction between income and prices with £10m to spare.
The corporate additionally acquired greater than 35,000 complaints in 2021-22, essentially the most of any operator, in response to ORR. The figures cowl the interval earlier than this summer time, when Avanti’s issues grew so dangerous that it slashed its timetables to focus on operating fewer trains extra reliably.
Companies and commuters in northern cities that rely most on Avanti’s intercity companies have spoken of issues and despair as a consequence of unreliable trains – exacerbated now by cancellations and workers shortages at TransPennine Categorical (TPE) specifically, in addition to Northern.
The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, stated ministers have been “rewarding abject failure with taxpayers’ hard-earned cash”.
She added: “It’s scandalous that regardless of the abysmal service, the federal government has allowed public cash to move into the pockets of shareholders.
“It’s time the federal government did their job and maintain this failing operator to account.
Ministers log out on dividend funds – they need to claw again taxpayers’ money getting used to reward failure.”
The transport secretary, Mark Harper, will meet northern metro mayors on Wednesday to debate issues with companies throughout the area, with the unreliability of TPE trains now quickly matching Avanti for concern.
Each operators are so as to add extra companies in a deliberate 11 December timetable change, however regional leaders concern that points round relaxation day working agreements on TPE could imply much more cancellations owing to lack of workers. Henri Murison, chief govt of Northern Powerhouse Partnership, stated: “We’d like a decision by the top of this week or we’ll get absolute chaos following the timetable change.”
Haigh is because of meet enterprise leaders privately within the north on Thursday to debate Labour’s plans for rail.
The Division for Transport final month renewed Avanti’s contract to run West Coast companies for an additional six months, with a warning that companies should enhance. Avanti has promised to revive three trains an hour between London and Manchester as a part of its restoration plan.
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Knowledge lately revealed by the Guardian confirmed that Avanti cancelled proportionately extra trains than every other operator, in a yr of report cancellations by British rail corporations.
The largest dividends of any operator final yr, £33m, have been paid out by one other First Group-owned firm, Nice Western. First additionally netted the most important share of the £13m paid out by its South Western Railway three way partnership.
FirstGroup stated that the dividends have been “not shareholder dividends” however how the charges have been remitted from the prepare operators to the proudly owning group. It added: “Since 2020, prepare operators have been paid a nominal fastened annual administration price in addition to a performance-based price in opposition to particular targets set by the federal government to run rail companies.
“The knowledge launched by ORR at this time refers to monetary knowledge for operations within the yr to March 2022, throughout which we noticed passenger numbers start to recuperate after the impression of the pandemic and previous to industrial motion throughout the community.”
The DfT stated: “This report displays funding to the rail trade as much as March this yr and pre-dates disruption seen on Avanti West Coast companies this summer time.
“We’re assembly with Avanti West Coast commonly to debate its efficiency they usually have been given six months to roll out a restoration plan and ship long-overdue reliability for passengers.”
