🔗 Share this article

A rail route that carries commuters from Manchester to London is set to run empty for approximately a five-month period following a decision by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the rail regulatory body implies the 7:00 AM GMT train operated by Avanti West Coast from Manchester's main station to the capital will continue to run but will only be used to transport employees starting mid-December.

An Avanti West Coast representative stated they were "let down" with the outcome, which would "clearly impact those customers who regularly take these trains".

An regulatory official explained the judgment was founded on "solid data" from the infrastructure manager to guard against potential service disruption on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail declined to comment.

Details of the Service Changes

The express train, which reaches London in less than 120 minutes, will still depart from Manchester station at 07:00 on four weekdays, but will not open to the public.

It will, instead, transport Avanti staff from Manchester to London when the new timetable takes effect on 15 December.

The decision implies the train could operate for over a hundred trips without fare-paying customers on board.

An operator spokesperson clarified they were disappointed with the ORR's determination not to grant access rights from December for four weekday services they presently run, including the 07:00 express train from Manchester to London.

The regulatory body also required a Sunday service which currently runs from Holyhead to London to terminate at Crewe station, they added.

"This will significantly affect those passengers who already use these services," they stated.

"Nonetheless, we will continue to provide even more services across our route system from the beginning of the winter schedule, including more extra trains on our Liverpool line."

The representative confirmed that the trains being removed were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Weekdays)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool station – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 09:39 GMT: Euston station – Blackpool station (Weekdays)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead station – Euston station terminates at Crewe (Sunday)

Oversight Reasoning

An regulatory spokesperson explained: "Our decision on the London-Manchester train was based on comprehensive data submitted by Network Rail that introducing trains within 'firebreak' slots on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on performance.

"We identified that this train would operate within one of those paths. If the operator runs the service as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (delayed or re-routed) than a booked passenger service.

"This helps with performance management and service recovery during disruption."

The ORR indicated the operator was earlier granted the permission to run this train from spring 2025 for the period of a single schedule cycle only.

This was on the condition that another operator's Stirling services were not running at the moment but the those trains are anticipated to start running during the December 2025 schedule update.

The regulatory body noted that under the new timetable, new open access train services, operated by First Lumo to Stirling, were due to start.