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A train service transporting daily travelers from London from Manchester is set to run empty for approximately five months following a decision by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the rail regulatory body means the 07:00 GMT train run by Avanti West Coast from Manchester's main station to London will still operate but will only be used to transport employees from the middle of December.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson stated they were "let down" with the decision, which would "clearly impact those customers who regularly take these trains".

An regulatory spokesperson explained the decision was based on "robust evidence" from Network Rail to prevent possible operational issues on the key rail corridor.

The infrastructure company did not provide a statement.

Specifics of the Operational Adjustments

The express train, which reaches the capital in under two hours, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on four weekdays, but will not open to commuters.

It will, instead, transport Avanti staff from Manchester to London when the new timetable takes effect on December 15th.

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

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson clarified they were displeased with the regulator's determination not to approve operational permissions from the winter period for four weekday services they currently operated, including the 7:00 AM fast service from London from Manchester.

The ORR also mandated a weekend train which presently operates from Holyhead to London to end at Crewe, they noted.

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

"Nonetheless, we will still be delivering even more trains across our network from the start of the December timetable, featuring more extra trains on our Liverpool line."

The spokesperson confirmed that the trains being removed were:

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

Oversight Reasoning

An regulatory spokesperson stated: "Our ruling on the London-Manchester train was based on comprehensive data provided by Network Rail that introducing trains within 'buffer' slots on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on reliability.

"We identified that this service would run in one of those time slots. If the operator operates the service as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (held back or re-routed) than a scheduled public train.

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

The regulator said Avanti was earlier granted the right to operate this service from May 2025 for the duration of a single schedule cycle exclusively.

This was on the basis that another operator's Stirling services were not running at the time but the those trains are expected to begin running during the winter 2025 schedule update.

The regulatory body added that under the new timetable, new open access rail operations, run by the competing operator to Stirling, Scotland, were scheduled to commence.