🔗 Share this article Manchester to London Rail Service to Run Without Commuters Rail operator characterizes the oversight body's decision as "unsatisfactory" A train service that carries commuters from Manchester to London is scheduled to run empty for approximately a five-month period following a decision by the rail regulator. A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road means the 07:00 GMT service run by Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to London will still operate but will exclusively serve to carry staff starting mid-December. An Avanti West Coast representative expressed they were "disappointed" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those customers who already use these services". An ORR official explained the judgment was founded on "solid data" from Network Rail to guard against potential operational issues on the West Coast Main Line. The infrastructure company did not provide a statement. Specifics of the Service Changes The fast service, which reaches London in less than 120 minutes, will continue to leave from Manchester Piccadilly at 7:00 AM on weekday mornings, but will not open to the public. It will, instead, ferry Avanti staff from Manchester to London when the updated schedule takes effect on December 15th. The decision implies the service could run for over a hundred journeys without fare-paying customers on board. An operator spokesperson clarified they were disappointed with the ORR's determination not to approve access rights from December for four weekday services they currently operated, such as the 7:00 AM fast service from London from Manchester. The regulatory body also required a weekend train which currently runs from Holyhead to London to end at Crewe station, they noted. "This will clearly impact those passengers who currently rely on these services," they said. "However, we will continue to provide additional trains across our route system from the beginning of the winter schedule, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool line." The representative verified that the services being removed were: 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Weekdays) 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool station – Euston station (Weekdays) 9:39 AM GMT: Euston station – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday) 19:32 GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Weekdays) 17:53 GMT: Holyhead – London Euston terminates at Crewe station (Sunday) Oversight Reasoning An ORR spokesperson stated: "Our ruling on the Manchester-London train was grounded in robust evidence provided by the infrastructure operator that introducing trains within 'firebreak' slots on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on reliability. "It was determined that this train would operate within one of those time slots. If the operator runs the service as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (delayed or re-routed) than a scheduled public train. "This helps with performance management and service recovery during incidents." The ORR indicated the operator was earlier granted the right to run this service 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 moment but the those trains are anticipated to start operating during the December 2025 schedule update. The regulatory body added that under the new timetable, new open access train services, run by the competing operator to Stirling, were due to start.