Avanti West Coast is to cut about one in seven trains on its busiest intercity routes this summer to reduce costs.

The train operator said it was reducing its timetable between London Euston and Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester in response to a government request to lower spending.

It normally runs 248 daily services on the affected routes, and will remove 38 weekday trains from the timetable during the summer months when demand is lower.

The Department for Transport (DfT), led by the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has approved the revised timetable, which will take effect from 20 July.

The affected trains will be removed from the schedules before becoming available for advance ticket purchases online.

The threatened 7.00am Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston fast service, reinstated after an uproar in December, will remain running.

The government has been looking to reduce the overall spend on rail, with annual net funding having remained at about £12bn in the years since the Covid pandemic.

Avanti said the “demand-led timetabling” would only affect routes where there were alternative trains to cause minimal disruption, and should not reduce revenue.

The operator, which runs fast intercity trains between London and Glasgow on the west coast mainline, has by some distance the worst punctuality record in national rail, according to the latest statistics from the Office of Rail and Road.

However, surveys suggest customer satisfaction has improved, and Avanti has greatly increased the number of services running since its Covid troubles, when drivers refused to work overtime and it was forced to slash its timetable.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “From 20 July to 28 August, we will be operating an amended timetable between London and Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester on weekdays.

“To ensure minimal impact to those travelling between the affected dates, these changes will only affect routes on which we operate more than one train per hour, during typically less busy periods of the day – maximising alternative journey options.

“We’d like to encourage customers planning to make journeys during this time to plan ahead, and thank them for their understanding.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “The secretary of state has accepted Avanti’s short-term proposals to amend its weekday summer timetable, when passenger numbers are considerably lower and many trains run with large numbers of empty seats.

“This will save taxpayers’ money while still meeting passenger demand for seats.”

Train services run by Avanti are expected to be nationalised early in 2027, as the government returns operations to public ownership under Great British Railways.

The operator said the latest reduction in services is not because of a lack of resources.

Like all remaining franchised train operators, it is tightly contracted to the DfT. Avanti has had a chequered history with state funding, which was described in slides leaked from an internal management meeting in 2024 as “free money”.

Planned strikes by drivers on the London Underground this week have been called off, the RMT union has announced.

The union said that the two 24-hour stoppages from midday on Tuesday, which were set to disrupt travel over four days this week, had been suspended.

An RMT union spokesperson said: “At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position allowing us to further explore our members concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.

“The dispute is not over and more strike action will follow if we fail to make sufficient progress.”

Strikes had been also scheduled for 16 and 18 June, which have now been changed to Tuesday 2 June and Thursday 4 June, should the differences over a planned four-day week not be resolved.

Transport for London (TfL) has said that its proposals for a four-day week would be trialled on a voluntary basis. Rival union Aslef, which represents a slight majority of Tube drivers, has endorsed the TfL proposal.

More details soon …

Hopes have been raised that next week’s strikes by London Underground drivers could yet be averted, after sources said the RMT union had put out feelers for talks.

The RMT members, almost half of London’s tube drivers, are due to strike for two 24-hour periods from midday on Tuesday and Thursday, closing some lines entirely and bringing widespread travel disruption to the capital until the weekend.

The action follows a similar wave of strikes in April, with more planned for June in the dispute over a planned four-day week working pattern.

No talks have yet taken place and with neither Transport for London (TfL) nor the union apparently willing to alter course, further strikes had appeared inevitable. TfL has warned passengers that many services will not operate next week.

However, a source close to the dispute said that union representatives had now put out feelers to seek a deal, giving TfL a “window of opportunity” to prevent further strikes.

They said that tube drivers were prepared for a long strike campaign of disruption, adding: “It is clear TfL needs to move from its uncompromising position and make some new proposals that do not impose new working conditions that tube drivers will not accept. An opportunity exists for the employer to do the right thing by Londoners and make a reasonable offer to the union.”

With the strike still scheduled to take place, TfL has urged customers to plan ahead and expect significant disruption, with early closures of services on Tuesday and Thursday and late starts on Wednesday and Friday.

No trains at all will run on the Circle line, Piccadilly line, and in zone 1 on the Metropolitan line and the Central line.

However, TfL stressed that Londoners and visitors would still be able to travel around the city, with other rail lines and transport modes running, and even some tube trains during the two 24-hour strike periods.

The Elizabeth line, London Overground and DLR will run as normal, as well as buses, although increased demand and traffic is likely to slow some services.

Data from the last strikes in April showed that people continued to travel, with patronage across the entire TfL network down only 13-14% overall on most strike days, and approaching normal levels on the Friday.

The bike hire company Lime reported about 20% more trips than average on strike days, while the rival Forest said rush hour hires were up between 35% and 50%.

Tap-ins to the tube were down between 42% and 48% from Tuesday to Thursday but only 31% on Friday, when travel on TfL services was down 6% overall. There is far less commuting on Fridays now but the figures suggest Londoners returned to the tube in the evening for leisure despite some disruption.

TfL said it was not too late for the RMT to withdraw its planned strike action and said the objections the union had raised would be resolved with further, more detailed work. The Aslef union, which represents a slight majority of London Underground drivers, has backed the TfL proposals for a four-day week.

Claire Mann, TfL’s chief operating officer, said: “It is disappointing that the RMT is planning this strike action despite our best efforts to resolve this dispute. We have been clear that our proposals for a four-day week are designed to improve work-life balance and are entirely voluntary.

“A significant number of drivers have indicated that they want us to progress plans for the pilot of this new working pattern on the Bakerloo line, and it would deliver benefits both for our colleagues and our customers. We urge the RMT to work with us so we can resolve this dispute. In the meantime, we are asking customers to check before they travel and allow plenty of extra time for their journeys.”

The RMT union declined to comment.