Avanti West Coast Manchester to London train to run empty

A train service taking passengers from Manchester to London will run empty for nearly five months following a decision by the rail regulator.

A decision taken by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) means the 07:00 GMT service operated by Avanti West Coast from Manchester Piccadilly to London will be used solely to transport staff from mid-December.

A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said they were “disappointed” by the decision and that it “will obviously impact customers who already use these services”.

An ORR spokesman said the decision was taken on “robust evidence” from Network Rail to guard against possible service disruption on the West Coast Main Line.

Network Rail declined to comment.

The express service, which will arrive in London in less than two hours, will depart from Manchester Piccadilly at 07:00 for four weeks, but will not serve passengers.

Instead, Avanti will move its staff from Manchester to London when the new schedule starts on December 15.

The decision means the service can operate more than 100 trips without paying passengers on board.

An Avanti West Coast spokesman said they were disappointed with ORR’s decision to deny them access rights from December for the four weeks of daily services they currently operate, including the 7am express service from Manchester to London.

They also added that ORR currently requires a Sunday service running from Holyhead to London to terminate in Crewe.

“This will clearly impact customers who already use these services.

“However, from the start of the December timetable, we will continue to introduce even more services across our network, including additional trains on our Liverpool route,” they said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the services removed were:

• 07:00 GMT: Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 12:52 GMT: Blackpool North – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 09:39 GMT: London Euston – Blackpool North (Monday to Friday)
• 19:32 GMT: Chester – London Euston (Monday to Friday)
• 17:53 GMT: Holyhead – London Euston ends in Crewe (Sunday)

An ORR spokesman said: “Our decision on the Manchester-London service was based on solid evidence provided by Network Rail that adding services within ‘firebreak’ routes on the West Coast Main Line would have a detrimental impact on performance.

“We have determined that this service will operate on one of these routes. If Avanti operates the service as empty coach stock (ECS), ECS can be operated more flexibly (delayed or rerouted) than a booked passenger service.”

“This can help with performance management and service recovery during an outage.”

ORR said Avanti had previously been granted the right to operate this service for only one timeline period from May 2025.

This was on the basis that First Lumo’s Stirling services were not operating at that time, but First Lumo services were expected to be operational during the December 2025 timeline period.

ORR added that according to the new schedule, new open access train services to Stirling in Scotland by First Lumo will start.