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A rail route that carries daily travelers from Manchester to London is set to operate without passengers for around five months following a determination by the railway oversight authority.

A ruling by the rail regulatory body implies the 7:00 AM GMT service run by the rail operator from Manchester Piccadilly to London will continue to run but will only be used to transport staff starting the middle of December.

An operator spokesperson expressed they were "disappointed" with the outcome, which would "definitely affect those passengers who regularly take these trains".

An regulatory official explained the judgment was founded on "robust evidence" from Network Rail to guard against potential operational issues on the key rail corridor.

The infrastructure company did not provide a statement.

Details of the Service Changes

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

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

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

An operator representative confirmed they were displeased with the regulator's determination not to approve operational permissions from the winter period for several daily trains they currently operated, such as the 07:00 express train from London from Manchester.

The regulatory body also required a weekend train which presently operates from London from Holyhead to terminate at Crewe, they added.

"It will clearly impact those passengers who currently rely on these trains," they stated.

"However, we will still be delivering even more trains across our route system from the beginning of the winter schedule, including further additional trains on our Liverpool route."

The spokesperson confirmed that the trains being removed were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester station to Euston station (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 9:39 AM GMT: Euston station – Blackpool station (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – London Euston (Weekdays)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead station – London Euston terminates at Crewe station (Sunday)

Oversight Rationale

An regulatory spokesperson explained: "Our ruling on the Manchester-London service was grounded in robust evidence submitted by Network Rail that adding services within 'firebreak' paths on the main rail line would have a detrimental impact on performance.

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

"This helps with service reliability and service recovery during incidents."

The ORR said the operator was previously given the permission to operate this service from spring 2025 for the period of one timetable period exclusively.

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

The regulatory body noted that under the updated schedule, additional independent train services, operated by First Lumo to Stirling, Scotland, were scheduled to commence.