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A rail route transporting commuters from Manchester to London is scheduled to run empty for around a five-month period due to a decision by the rail regulator.

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road implies the 7:00 AM GMT service operated by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to London will continue to run but will only be used to transport staff from mid-December.

An operator representative expressed they were "let down" with the outcome, which would "clearly impact those passengers who regularly take these services".

An regulatory official explained the judgment was based on "solid data" from the infrastructure manager to guard against possible operational issues on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail declined to comment.

Specifics 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, ferry Avanti staff from London from Manchester when the updated schedule takes effect on December 15th.

The ruling implies the service could operate for more than 100 trips without paying passengers on the train.

An operator spokesperson clarified they were disappointed with the ORR's decision not to approve operational permissions from December for several daily trains they currently operated, such as the 07:00 fast service from Manchester to London.

The regulatory body also required a Sunday service which presently operates from Holyhead to London to terminate at Crewe, they noted.

"It will clearly impact those customers who currently rely on these trains," they stated.

"Nonetheless, we will continue to provide additional services across our network from the beginning of the December timetable, including further additional trains on our Liverpool route."

The spokesperson confirmed that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 7:00 AM GMT: Manchester station to London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool station – Euston station (Weekdays)
• 9:39 AM GMT: Euston station – Blackpool North (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester station – Euston station (Weekdays)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead – Euston station ends at Crewe (Sunday)

Oversight Rationale

An ORR spokesperson stated: "Our decision on the London-Manchester service was grounded in comprehensive data provided by the infrastructure operator that introducing trains within 'firebreak' paths on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on reliability.

"It was determined that this service would operate within one of those paths. If Avanti operates the service as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (held back or redirected) than a scheduled public train.

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

The regulator indicated Avanti was previously given the permission to run this train from spring 2025 for the duration of a single schedule cycle exclusively.

This was on the basis that another operator's Stirling services were not operating at the moment but the those trains are anticipated to start running during the December 2025 timetable period.

The ORR added that under the updated schedule, new open access rail operations, operated by the competing operator to Stirling, Scotland, were due to start.