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A train service that carries daily travelers from Manchester to London is scheduled to operate without passengers for around five months following a decision by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the rail regulatory body implies the 7:00 AM GMT train run by the rail operator from Manchester's main station to London will still operate but will only be used to carry employees from mid-December.

An operator spokesperson stated they were "disappointed" with the decision, which would "clearly impact those passengers who regularly take these services".

An ORR spokesperson explained the decision was founded on "solid data" from the infrastructure manager to guard against possible service disruption on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

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

It will, alternatively, ferry company employees from London from Manchester when the updated schedule takes effect on 15 December.

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

An operator spokesperson confirmed they were displeased with the regulator's decision not to grant operational permissions from December for four weekday services they presently run, including the 7:00 AM fast service from Manchester to London.

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

"This will clearly impact those passengers who already use these services," they said.

"Nonetheless, we will continue to provide even more trains across our route system from the beginning of the December timetable, including more extra trains on our Liverpool route."

The spokesperson verified that the services being removed were:

• 7:00 AM GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Weekdays)
• 12:52 GMT: Blackpool North – Euston station (Monday to Friday)
• 09:39 GMT: Euston station – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – Euston station (Weekdays)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead station – Euston station terminates at Crewe (Sundays)

Regulatory Reasoning

An regulatory official stated: "Our decision on the London-Manchester train was based on comprehensive data submitted by the infrastructure operator that introducing trains within 'buffer' paths on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on reliability.

"It was determined that this service would run in one of those paths. If Avanti operates the train as unoccupied train cars (ECS), ECS can be run more flexibly (delayed or re-routed) than a scheduled public train.

"This can assist with service reliability and service recovery during disruption."

The ORR indicated the operator was earlier granted the permission to run this train from spring 2025 for the period of one timetable period exclusively.

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

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