Avanti West Coast at risk of losing extra Liverpool paths after track access appeal

Avanti West Coast is at risk of losing the paths for its recently reintroduced Liverpool services.

Network Rail has been directed to assess whether the operator should hold the rights that it uses for its second hourly services between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston.

It comes after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) upheld part of an appeal by Virgin, saying NR had incorrectly accepted a temporary voluntary surrender from Avanti, which had been directed to use the paths from the December 2023 timetable change.

However, Avanti did not introduce any additional Liverpool services until November 2024. It continues to add more trains in those paths, with the final set to be included in the December 2025 timetable change.

Virgin submitted its appeal in February 2025, saying the paths had been “protected” for Avanti.

NR had accepted the temporary surrender by Avanti in July 2024, under the section of the Network Code that says an operator can give up rights for a period of time when it has no current or foreseeable commercial need.

Virgin, which applied to use the paths in its open access application in May 2024 (which has been rejected), claimed discussions with Avanti showed the latter did have a commercial need for them.

ORR agreed and ruled that the temporary surrender and modification of Avanti’s Track Access Contract to reflect this are void.

The regulator has now directed NR to hold a Rights Review Meeting with Avanti within 14 days of the decision date (July 3), to review unused access rights in the contract.

An ORR spokesman told RAIL: “The access rights in question legally still sit with Avanti, meaning it can run services which use those rights.

“However, we are directing Network Rail to follow the correct process in assessing whether Avanti should hold those rights and have set a deadline for that.

“Once Network Rail has followed the correct process, Avanti or another operator may be able to use those rights depending on Network Rail’s decision.”

A second part of Virgin’s appeal, which contested that NR should have issued a Failure to Use notice under Part J4 of the Network Code (freeing up paths immediately), was not upheld.

Avanti had said factors outside its direct control led to it not using the paths - issues it said were “non-economic in nature and temporary”.

These included industrial action from 2022-24, a driver training backlog due to COVID, and the delay of new Class 807s destined for the extra Liverpool services.

Virgin said it was “pleased” that ORR had “recognised the Network Code was not followed as intended”.

A spokeswoman said: “Calling for a review of all guidance and templates demonstrates that improvements can be made. We welcome the ORR holding the industry to account.”

However, there’s also a belief that the appeal result and the overall decision to reject three open access applications for the West Coast Main Line contradict each other, leaving it unclear as to whether paths on the route exist or not.

While Avanti West Coast declined to comment on the decision, in its representations during the appeal process it warned: “Any decision which affects the May 2025 timetable is likely to have an impact on the funds available to the Secretary of State through a reduction in forecast revenue.

“As one of only two operators currently returning a premium to government, this is of significant concern.”

The operator said ORR must be aware that “changes to access rights may fundamentally affect our operational delivery and performance for the full duration of the May 2025 timetable” as it would affect train crew rostering and diagrams.

Network Rail said it was meeting Avanti to discuss the operator’s future timetable intentions.

“While these discussions are subject to commercial confidentiality, we will ensure due process is followed in respect of allocation of access rights, as set out in the Network Code,” a spokesman said.

After having its WCML open access application rejected Virgin is turning its focus towards the Channel Tunnel, where it hopes to rival Eurostar.