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

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road implies the 7:00 AM GMT train run by Avanti West Coast from Manchester's main station to the capital will still operate but will only be used to carry staff starting the middle of December.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson stated they were "disappointed" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those customers who already use these services".

An regulatory official explained the judgment was based on "solid data" from Network Rail to prevent possible operational issues on the West Coast Main Line.

The infrastructure company declined to comment.

Specifics of the Operational Adjustments

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

It will, instead, transport 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 trips without fare-paying customers on the train.

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

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

"This will clearly impact those customers who currently rely on these trains," they said.

"However, we will still be delivering even more trains across our network from the beginning of the winter schedule, featuring further additional trains on our Liverpool line."

The spokesperson confirmed that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester station to London Euston (Weekdays)
• 12:52 GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 09:39 GMT: London Euston – Blackpool North (Weekdays)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead station – Euston station terminates at Crewe station (Sundays)

Oversight Reasoning

An regulatory spokesperson explained: "Our ruling on the London-Manchester service was based on comprehensive data provided by the infrastructure operator that adding services within 'firebreak' slots 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 operates the train as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (held back or re-routed) than a scheduled public train.

"This helps with service reliability and operational restoration during incidents."

The ORR said the operator was previously given the right to operate this train from spring 2025 for the period of a single schedule cycle exclusively.

This was on the condition that another operator's Scottish trains were not operating at the moment but the First Lumo services are anticipated to start operating during the December 2025 timetable period.

The ORR added that under the new timetable, additional independent train services, run by First Lumo to Stirling, were due to start.