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

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road means the 7:00 AM GMT train operated by Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to London will continue to run but will only be used to transport staff from the middle of December.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson expressed they were "disappointed" with the decision, which would "definitely affect those passengers who already use these trains".

An ORR official indicated the decision was based on "robust evidence" from the infrastructure manager to guard against possible service disruption on the West Coast Main Line.

The infrastructure company declined to comment.

Specifics of the Operational Adjustments

The express train, which arrives in the capital in under two hours, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 07:00 on four weekdays, but will not open to commuters.

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

The ruling means the service could operate for over a hundred journeys without paying passengers on board.

An operator spokesperson confirmed they were displeased with the ORR's decision not to approve operational permissions from the winter period for four weekday services they currently operated, such as the 07:00 fast service from Manchester to London.

The ORR also required a Sunday service which presently operates from London from Holyhead to terminate at Crewe station, they added.

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

"Nonetheless, we will continue to provide even more services across our network from the beginning of the December timetable, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool line."

The representative verified that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to Euston station (Weekdays)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 9:39 AM GMT: Euston station – Blackpool North (Weekdays)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead station – London Euston ends at Crewe (Sundays)

Regulatory Rationale

An ORR spokesperson explained: "Our decision on the Manchester-London train was grounded in robust evidence provided by Network Rail that introducing trains within 'buffer' paths on the West Coast Main Line would have a negative effect on performance.

"It was determined that this train would run in one of those paths. If Avanti operates the train as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (held back or redirected) than a scheduled public train.

"This can assist with performance management and operational restoration during incidents."

The regulator said Avanti was earlier granted the right to run this train from spring 2025 for the period of one timetable period only.

This was on the basis that First Lumo's Stirling services were not running at the time but the First Lumo services are expected to begin running during the December 2025 timetable period.

The regulatory body added that under the updated schedule, additional independent rail operations, run by the competing operator to Stirling, Scotland, were due to start.