Manchester to London Rail Service to Operate Devoid of Passengers

A rail route that carries commuters from Manchester to London is set to run empty for approximately a five-month period following a determination by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the Office of Rail and Road means the 07:00 GMT service run by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to the capital will still operate but will only be used to transport employees starting mid-December.

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

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

Network Rail did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

The express train, which arrives in the capital in less than 120 minutes, will still depart from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on four weekdays, but will not open to the public.

It will, instead, transport company employees from Manchester to London when the updated schedule launches on 15 December.

The decision implies the train could operate for more than 100 journeys without paying passengers on board.

An operator spokesperson confirmed they were displeased with the ORR's decision not to grant access rights from the winter period for four weekday services they presently run, such as the 07:00 express train 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 added.

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

"However, we will still be delivering additional trains across our route system from the beginning of the December timetable, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool line."

The spokesperson verified that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 7:00 AM GMT: Manchester station to Euston station (Weekdays)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool station – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 9:39 AM GMT: Euston station – Blackpool North (Weekdays)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – Euston station (Monday to Friday)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead – London Euston terminates at Crewe station (Sunday)

Regulatory Reasoning

An ORR official explained: "Our ruling on the London-Manchester train was grounded in robust evidence provided by Network Rail that adding services within 'buffer' paths on the main rail line would have a negative effect on performance.

"We identified that this train would run in one of those time slots. If Avanti operates the service as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (delayed or redirected) than a booked passenger service.

"This can assist with performance management and service recovery during incidents."

The ORR indicated the operator was previously given the right to run this service from spring 2025 for the period of a single schedule cycle exclusively.

This was on the basis that another operator's Stirling services were not operating at the moment but the First Lumo services are anticipated to start operating during the winter 2025 timetable period.

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