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A rail route that carries daily travelers from Manchester to London is set to run empty for around a five-month period due to a decision by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road implies the 07:00 GMT service run by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to London will continue to run but will only be used to carry employees starting mid-December.

An operator representative expressed they were "disappointed" with the decision, which would "clearly impact those passengers who already use these services".

An regulatory spokesperson explained the judgment was based on "robust evidence" from Network Rail to prevent potential operational issues on the West Coast Main Line.

The infrastructure company did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

The fast service, which arrives in London in under two hours, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on four weekdays, but will not open to commuters.

It will, instead, transport Avanti staff from London from Manchester when the new timetable launches on December 15th.

The decision implies the train could run for over a hundred journeys without fare-paying customers on the train.

An operator spokesperson clarified they were disappointed with the ORR's determination not to approve operational permissions from the winter period for four weekday services they currently operated, such as the 07:00 express train from Manchester to London.

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

"It will clearly impact those passengers who already use these services," they stated.

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

The spokesperson verified that the services being removed were:

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

Regulatory Rationale

An regulatory spokesperson stated: "Our decision on the Manchester-London service was based on comprehensive data provided by Network Rail that adding services within 'firebreak' paths on the West Coast Main Line would have a detrimental impact on performance.

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

"This can assist with service reliability and operational restoration during disruption."

The ORR said Avanti was earlier granted the right to run this service from spring 2025 for the period of one timetable period exclusively.

This was on the basis that First Lumo's Scottish trains were not operating at the moment but the First Lumo services are expected to begin operating during the winter 2025 schedule update.

The regulatory body noted that under the updated schedule, additional independent train services, operated by the competing operator to Stirling, were due to start.