Running trains on the West Coast: Interview with Avanti West Coast MD Andy Mellors
Green Signals21 Okt 2025

Running trains on the West Coast: Interview with Avanti West Coast MD Andy Mellors

Andy Mellors is a career railwayman with a successful careerin railway engineering and other senior leadership positions. In March 2023 he took on his biggest challenge to date –Managing Director of Avanti West Coast. The challenge hasbeen tough and there is still much to do but there is evidence the supertanker is beginning to turn.

In this candid interview, we talk to Any about a wide rangeof issues including what went wrong when Avanti took over from Virgin Trains, whether First Trenitalia got the bid wrong, what is happening with recruitment of drivers in particular and whether the business has the right contracts in place now with its people.

We also talk about diversionary routes, performance issuesand plans for the future as well as how Great British Railways might impact on West Coast.

Everyone has an opinion on Avanti West Coast. This is a great chance to hear in depth from the man in the hot seat chargedwith getting it sorted.

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