RAIL operator Avanti West Coast (AWC) has been given a contract extension from the government to continue operating services. 

The franchise holder provides services along the main line through Lancaster and Oxenholme which go up to Scotland in the north and terminate in London in the south. AWC is under FirstGroup plc. 

The contract will run until October 15.

AWC has come under criticism for poor service. The Office for Rail and Rail (ORR) published statistics which found that 10.5 per cent of Avanti West Coast services between October and December 2022 were cancelled on the day, higher than any other operator.

Last year, there was chaos at Oxenholme when a delayed AWC service arrived at the station so late that the staff workers had gone home and locked the platform. 

Iin a letter to the MP Tim Farron AWC said that it was 'an extremely rare situation' caused by knock-on effects from a signalling failure in the Carstairs area. 

AWC executive director for stations Natasha Grice said: "There should have been a 'not to stop' order issued for Oxenholme, but unfortunately the Train Manager and Driver were not made aware of this instruction. This is an extremely rare situation." 

READ MORE: Avanti West Coast explains the Oxenholme station incident 

The Department for Transport argues that AWC has seen 'significant improvements' in the last few months hence the contract extension. It said it will have to put further improvements in place to keep the contract beyond October. 

It said that cancellations have reduced from nearly 25 per cent of the service in August 2022 to 4.2 per cent in early March 2023. 

Transport secretary Mark Harper said: "The routes Avanti West Coast run are absolutely vital, and I fully understand the frustrations passengers felt at the completely unacceptable services seen last Autumn. Following our intervention, Rail Minister Huw Merriman and I have worked closely with local leaders to put a robust plan in place, which I’m glad to see is working.

"However, there is still more work to be done to bring services up to the standards we expect, which is why over these next 6 months further improvements will need to be made by Avanti West Coast." 

Graham Sutherland, FirstGroup chief executive officer said: "We are working closely with government and our partners across the industry to deliver a successful railway for our customers and communities.

“Performance at Avanti is steadily improving and since the introduction of the new timetable in mid-December, the number of services operated has increased by more than 40 per cent compared to last summer, with more seats and better frequencies.

"Today’s agreement allows our team to continue their focus on delivering their robust plans to continue enhancing services for our customers, including further progress on our train upgrade and refurbishment programme.”