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A rail route that carries daily travelers from Manchester to London is scheduled to run empty for approximately a five-month period following a determination by the rail regulator.

A verdict by the rail regulatory body means the 07:00 GMT service run by Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to the capital will still operate but will exclusively serve to transport staff starting the middle of December.

An Avanti West Coast representative expressed they were "disappointed" with the decision, which would "clearly impact those passengers who already use these services".

An ORR spokesperson explained the judgment was founded on "solid data" from Network Rail to prevent possible operational issues on the key rail corridor.

Network Rail declined to comment.

Specifics of the Operational Adjustments

The express train, 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 be available to commuters.

It will, instead, transport company employees from London from Manchester when the new timetable takes effect on 15 December.

The ruling implies the train could operate for more than 100 journeys without fare-paying customers on the train.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson clarified they were disappointed with the regulator's determination not to grant access rights from the winter period for four weekday services they currently operated, such as the 7:00 AM fast service from Manchester to London.

The ORR also mandated a Sunday service which currently runs from London from Holyhead to end at Crewe station, they added.

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

"Nonetheless, we will still be delivering additional trains across our network from the beginning of the December timetable, including more extra trains on our Liverpool line."

The representative verified that the trains being removed were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 PM GMT: Blackpool North – Euston station (Weekdays)
• 09:39 GMT: London Euston – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester station – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 5:53 PM GMT: Holyhead – Euston station ends at Crewe station (Sunday)

Oversight Reasoning

An ORR spokesperson explained: "Our ruling on the Manchester-London service was based on comprehensive data provided by Network Rail that introducing trains within 'buffer' slots on the main rail line would have a negative effect on reliability.

"It was determined that this service would run in one of those time slots. If Avanti operates the train as empty coaching stock (ECS), ECS can be operated with greater flexibility (delayed or redirected) than a booked passenger service.

"This can assist with service reliability and operational restoration during disruption."

The ORR said the operator was previously given the right to run this train from May 2025 for the duration of one timetable period only.

This was on the condition that First Lumo's Stirling services were not operating at the moment but the those trains are anticipated to start running during the December 2025 timetable period.

The regulatory body noted that under the updated schedule, new open access rail operations, run by the competing operator to Stirling, were scheduled to commence.