Decision to run Manchester to London ‘ghost train’ ‘uninformed’, regulator admits

The rail regulator has admitted it “didn’t have all the facts” when it decided not to allow passengers to board peak-hour train services between Manchester and London.

The Office for Road and Rail (ORR) said “critical points” were missing when making a decision that would turn the service into a ‘ghost train’ running every day for months.

ORR chief executive John Larkinson said his organization did not know the train would be “fully crewed”, would leave Manchester Piccadilly rather than a depot and would have to go to Euston so there could be a 0930 GMT service to Glasgow.

“The information we received later meant that our assumption was wrong,” he said.

This comes after ORR faced backlash in November over its decision to allow the popular 7am train to operate carrying only staff.

The decision, which was to take effect from mid-December, was quickly withdrawn after serious criticism, including from Transport Minister Heidi Alexander.

ORR had justified the decision by saying that in case of delay, the service had to run empty so that the slot, a planned gap in the timetable, could be used as a firebreak.

But in a letter to Ruth Cadbury, chair of Parliament’s Transport Committee, Larkinson said the facts that later emerged meant that breaches could no longer be considered an effective firefighting tool.

Larkinson said the ORR team evaluating the application did not ask Avanti for more information, which would clarify the points.

He said the ORR team’s decision “may have been different” if they contacted Avanti, “but they flexed and tried to cover multiple interacting decisions.”

He added that ORR was dealing with 82 “complex and competing” applications for line access at the time.

His letter stated that although the train operating company complained in early November, the issues they raised “were not communicated appropriately”.

Larkinson described it as “an unusual case, but still one from which we can learn.”

He added: “I take full responsibility for what happened and we are strengthening our processes to reflect the lessons we have learned.”

A statement from Cadbury, Labour’s Brentford and Isleworth MP, said: “The public is understandably shocked by ORR’s decision not to allow the 7am express service from Manchester to London to carry passengers when a fully crewed train is already running.”

“On the face of it, this was a strange decision – especially when the train was popular and profitable – and the Transport Committee had a number of questions about it.

“We now have some answers, a detailed explanation of why this happened, and we know that responsibility is happily accepted.”

He said the committee would look at ways to avoid similar situations in the future as the government set up Great British Railways.