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A rail route transporting daily travelers from Manchester to London is scheduled to operate without passengers for around a five-month period due to a determination by the railway oversight authority.

A verdict by the Office of Rail and Road implies the 7:00 AM GMT train run by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to London will continue to run but will exclusively serve to carry employees from mid-December.

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

An regulatory spokesperson indicated the decision was based on "solid data" from the infrastructure manager to prevent possible operational issues on the key rail corridor.

The infrastructure company declined to comment.

Details of the Operational Adjustments

The fast service, which arrives in London in under two hours, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 07:00 on four weekdays, but will not be available to the public.

It will, alternatively, ferry company employees from London from Manchester when the updated schedule takes effect on December 15th.

The ruling implies the service could operate for over a hundred journeys without fare-paying customers on board.

An Avanti West Coast representative clarified they were disappointed with the ORR's determination not to approve access rights from the winter period for four weekday services they presently run, such as the 07:00 express train from Manchester to London.

The ORR also mandated a Sunday service which presently operates from London from Holyhead to end at Crewe, they noted.

"It will clearly impact those customers who already use these trains," they said.

"However, we will continue to provide additional services across our network from the beginning of the winter schedule, featuring further additional trains on our Liverpool line."

The representative verified that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Weekdays)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 9:39 AM GMT: London Euston – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead station – Euston station terminates at Crewe station (Sunday)

Oversight Rationale

An regulatory spokesperson explained: "Our ruling on the London-Manchester service was grounded in comprehensive data submitted by Network Rail that introducing trains within 'buffer' slots on the West Coast Main Line would have a negative effect on performance.

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

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

The regulator 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 basis that First Lumo's Scottish trains were not operating at the time but the First Lumo services are anticipated to start operating during the winter 2025 timetable period.

The regulatory body added that under the new timetable, new open access rail operations, operated by First Lumo to Stirling, were due to start.