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A rail route that carries daily travelers from London from Manchester is scheduled to run empty for approximately five months due to a decision by the rail regulator.

A ruling by the rail regulatory body 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 exclusively serve to carry employees starting the middle of December.

An operator spokesperson stated they were "disappointed" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those customers who already use these trains".

An ORR official indicated the decision was founded on "robust evidence" from the infrastructure manager to prevent potential operational issues on the West Coast Main Line.

The infrastructure company did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

The fast service, which reaches the capital in less than 120 minutes, will continue to leave from Manchester station at 7:00 AM on four weekdays, but will not be available to the public.

It will, alternatively, transport company employees from Manchester to London when the new timetable launches on December 15th.

The decision implies the train could operate for over a hundred trips without fare-paying customers on board.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson clarified they were displeased with the regulator's decision not to approve operational permissions from the winter period for several daily trains they presently run, such as the 07:00 fast service from Manchester to London.

The regulatory body also mandated a weekend train which currently runs from Holyhead to London to end at Crewe station, they added.

"This will clearly impact those passengers who currently rely on these services," they stated.

"However, we will continue to provide even more services across our route system from the start of the winter schedule, featuring further additional trains on our Liverpool line."

The spokesperson verified that the trains being withdrawn were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester station to London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool station – Euston station (Monday to Friday)
• 9:39 AM GMT: London Euston – Blackpool North (Weekdays)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead – London Euston terminates at Crewe (Sundays)

Oversight Reasoning

An regulatory spokesperson stated: "Our decision on the Manchester-London train was grounded in robust evidence provided by the infrastructure operator that adding services within 'buffer' slots on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on reliability.

"We identified that this train would run in one of those time slots. If Avanti runs the service as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (held back or re-routed) than a booked passenger service.

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

The ORR indicated Avanti was previously given the right to operate this train from spring 2025 for the duration of one timetable period only.

This was on the basis that First Lumo's Stirling services were not operating at the moment but the First Lumo services are anticipated to start running during the December 2025 schedule update.

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