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A train service transporting daily travelers from Manchester to London is scheduled to operate without passengers for approximately a five-month period following a determination by the rail regulator.

A verdict by the Office of Rail and Road implies the 07:00 GMT service run by Avanti West Coast from Manchester's main station to London will continue to run but will exclusively serve to carry staff starting the middle of December.

An operator spokesperson expressed they were "let down" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those customers who already use these services".

An regulatory spokesperson indicated the decision was based on "robust evidence" from Network Rail to prevent potential operational issues on the key rail corridor.

Network Rail did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

The express train, which arrives in London in less than 120 minutes, will still depart from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on weekday mornings, but will not open to commuters.

It will, instead, ferry company employees from Manchester to London when the new timetable takes effect on 15 December.

The decision means the train could run for more than 100 journeys without fare-paying customers on the train.

An operator representative confirmed they were displeased with the ORR's determination not to approve access rights from the winter period for several daily trains they currently operated, such as the 07:00 fast service from London from Manchester.

The regulatory body also mandated a weekend train which currently runs from Holyhead to London to terminate at Crewe, they noted.

"It will clearly impact those passengers who currently rely on these services," they said.

"Nonetheless, we will still be delivering additional trains across our route system from the start of the winter schedule, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool route."

The spokesperson confirmed that the services being withdrawn were:

• 7:00 AM GMT: Manchester station to London Euston (Weekdays)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 9:39 AM GMT: London Euston – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday)
• 7:32 PM GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead – Euston station terminates at Crewe station (Sunday)

Oversight Reasoning

An regulatory official stated: "Our ruling on the Manchester-London service was grounded in comprehensive data provided by Network Rail that adding services within 'firebreak' slots on the West Coast Main Line would have a detrimental impact on reliability.

"It was determined that this service would operate within one of those paths. If the operator runs the service as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (delayed or redirected) than a scheduled public train.

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

The ORR said Avanti was previously given the permission to run this service from spring 2025 for the period of a single schedule cycle only.

This was on the condition that First Lumo'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 regulatory body added that under the updated schedule, new open access rail operations, operated by the competing operator to Stirling, were due to start.