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

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

An Avanti West Coast representative stated they were "disappointed" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those customers who regularly take these services".

An ORR official explained the judgment was founded on "robust evidence" from the infrastructure manager to prevent potential service disruption on the key rail corridor.

The infrastructure company did not provide a statement.

Details of the Operational Adjustments

The express train, which reaches the capital in less than 120 minutes, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on four weekdays, but will not be available to commuters.

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

The decision means the service could run for more than 100 journeys without paying passengers on board.

An operator representative confirmed they were displeased with the ORR's determination not to grant operational permissions from the winter period for four weekday services they currently operated, including the 7:00 AM express train from Manchester to London.

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

"It will significantly affect those customers who already use these services," they stated.

"However, we will still be delivering additional trains across our network from the beginning of the December timetable, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool route."

The representative verified that the services being removed were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to Euston station (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 GMT: Blackpool station – Euston station (Weekdays)
• 09:39 GMT: London Euston – Blackpool station (Weekdays)
• 7:32 PM GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead station – London Euston ends at Crewe (Sunday)

Regulatory Reasoning

An ORR official stated: "Our decision on the Manchester-London service was based on comprehensive data provided by Network Rail that adding services within 'buffer' slots on the main rail line would have a negative effect on performance.

"We identified that this train would operate within one of those time slots. If Avanti runs the service as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (held back or redirected) than a booked passenger service.

"This helps with service reliability and service recovery during disruption."

The ORR said the operator was previously given the right to operate this service from spring 2025 for the duration of one timetable period exclusively.

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

The ORR added that under the updated schedule, new open access rail operations, run by First Lumo to Stirling, Scotland, were due to start.