MPS from across North Wales have called on the UK Government to strip Avanti West Coast of its franchise in the region, in a letter sent to Rail Minister Kevin Foster.

North Wales’ Conservative MPs Simon Baynes (Clwyd South), Virginia Crosbie (Ynys Môn), James Davies (Vale of Clwyd), David Jones (Clwyd West) and Robin Millar (Aberconwy) have called for the train operator to lose its franchise to operate services on the West Coast Main Line, which includes North Wales.

Avanti’s franchise on the line is due to expire on October 16, with Avanti stating it wishes to continue to operate the services.

In their letter to the Rail Minister, the MPs said the “deplorable” performance the company’s services had resulted in the North Wales mainline becoming little more than a “branch line”, where passengers were forced to change trains at least once at huge inconvenience.

The letter said: “Nowhere has its performance been more lamentable than in North Wales. At present, there is only one through train per day between Holyhead (the principal ferry port to Ireland) and London.

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“The mainline has now been reduced to the status of a branch line, to the enormous inconvenience of North Wales passengers.

“You will of course be aware that Avanti has pursued a business model of relying heavily on drivers to undertake overtime work as a matter of course, despite the best efforts of Avanti train staff, who are undoubtedly as dispirited by the company’s performance as everyone else.”

In June, Avanti West Coast said that it would be running a virtually pre-pandemic timetable of six direct services each way from September 12.

But this has not happened and, in fact, the number of direct services has currently dropped to just one per day southbound.

Yesterday, Avanti said that they intend to substantially to restore the service to acceptable levels from December 11,with an Avanti spokesperson adding: “We know we’re not delivering the service our customers rightly expect and we apologise for the enormous frustration and inconvenience.

“Our customers and communities in North Wales and Chester deserve a dependable train service, so we’re currently working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way.

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“Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us to gradually increase services without being reliant on traincrew overtime, which has fallen dramatically in recent weeks. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”

However, this has not restored confidence with North Wales MPs, who continued: “We have no confidence whatever that they will do so or that any improvement they do achieve will be permanent.

“The service provided by Avanti contrasts markedly with that provided by its predecessor, Virgin Trains. We therefore see no reason why an acceptable service cannot be provided on the West Coast mainline by a competent operator.

“We accordingly urge you not to renew Avanti’s franchise on October 16, but rather seek another operator more able to provide the level of service that our constituents demand and are entitled to expect.”