Avanti West Coast promises more Manchester to London trains in December and issues apology

A 'stable and deliverable' three trains per hour rail service between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston will return from December, under-fire operator Avanti West Coast has vowed.

Avanti's regional growth manager, Charlie French, told a transport committee meeting the operator will use the national timetable changes in December as a 'hard reset for our services' - as he issued an apology to 'everyone across Greater Manchester who has used our services'.

"They are not where they need to be," he said. "We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and the frustration that has been caused by the step down that we have had to put in place." Crucially, Mr French said the plans from December - a boost to passengers heading to London before Christmas - were not reliant on rest day working or overtime, vowing it would be a 'stable timetable that is deliverable'.

Avanti announced in August it was cutting the number of trains between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly from one every 20 minutes to one an hour 'until further notice', saying it had acted in the wake of industrial action 'to ensure a reliable service is delivered so customers can travel with greater certainty'.

The timetable change, however, sparked fierce criticism from the travelling public and from the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, ahead of the expiry of the current West Coast Main Line franchise agreement on October 16.

Avanti has used a degree of rest-day working to operate its timetable. Drivers have traditionally volunteered to work additional shifts over and above their contracted hours in what ministers called an 'industry arrangement' that 'has been in place for many years, to the benefit of the drivers, the operators and indeed the