🔗 Share this article

A train service that carries commuters from London from Manchester is scheduled to operate without passengers for approximately a five-month period following a decision by the rail regulator.

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road means the 7:00 AM GMT train operated by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to London will still operate but will exclusively serve to carry staff from the middle of December.

An operator representative expressed they were "let down" with the decision, which would "definitely affect those passengers who already use these services".

An regulatory spokesperson explained the judgment was founded on "solid data" from the infrastructure manager to prevent potential operational issues on the key rail corridor.

The infrastructure company declined to comment.

Details of the Service Changes

The fast service, which arrives in London in less than 120 minutes, will still depart from Manchester station at 07:00 on weekday mornings, but will not be available to the public.

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

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

An operator spokesperson confirmed they were disappointed with the regulator's determination not to approve operational permissions from December for four weekday services they presently run, including the 07:00 fast service from Manchester to London.

The ORR also required a weekend train which currently runs from London from Holyhead to end at Crewe, they added.

"This will significantly affect those customers who currently rely on these trains," they said.

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

The representative confirmed that the services being withdrawn were:

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

Oversight Reasoning

An ORR official explained: "Our decision on the London-Manchester train was grounded in robust evidence submitted by the infrastructure operator that introducing trains within 'buffer' paths on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on performance.

"We identified that this train would run in one of those paths. If Avanti runs the train as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (held back or redirected) than a booked passenger service.

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

The regulator indicated Avanti was previously given the permission to operate this service from May 2025 for the period of one timetable period only.

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

The regulatory body added that under the updated schedule, new open access train services, run by the competing operator to Stirling, were due to start.