Avanti West Coast must stop running five services in December after requests to make temporary rights permanent were rejected.
The 0700 Manchester Piccadilly-Euston, 1932 Chester-Euston (weekdays), 1753 Holyhead-Euston (Sundays) and the 0939 Euston-Blackpool North and 1252 return (weekdays) will all be removed in the December timetable change.
Avanti West Coast must stop running five services in December after requests to make temporary rights permanent were rejected.
The 0700 Manchester Piccadilly-Euston, 1932 Chester-Euston (weekdays), 1753 Holyhead-Euston (Sundays) and the 0939 Euston-Blackpool North and 1252 return (weekdays) will all be removed in the December timetable change.
Network Rail (NR) had concluded there wasn’t sufficient capacity on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) South for the services to continue.
Avanti had raised a dispute with the Access Disputes Committee (ADC) on all but the Manchester service, saying they presented little performance risk and claiming NR was not acting “within the best interests of the industry”, with little explanation for its decision.
NR insisted WCML South is “already operating at the limits of resilience and introducing additional services would erode necessary firebreaks, worsen reactionary delay, and compromise timetable robustness”.
While the ADC told NR to “reconsider its decision not to accommodate” the trains, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has rejected Avanti’s requests to keep running the services.
ORR pointed to a sentence in both decisions letters which said the services “would occupy one of the paths identified by Network Rail as critical for managing performance on the WCML South Fast Lines”.
A spokesperson said: “The ADC determination found Network Rail ‘made a decision in this case which was arbitrary in nature’.
“The ADC directed Network Rail ‘to reconsider its decision not to accommodate’ the specific trains, however it did not make a determination on the available capacity or performance impact.
“In summary, the ADC determination is clearly about the process that Network Rail did not follow in reaching its decision.”
ORR also said the temporary rights were given while Lumo’s Stirling services are not running, but these are expected to begin before the May 2026 timetable change.
NR had supported the continuation of the Manchester service saying an empty coaching stock (ECS) movement would use the path.
However, ORR noted ECS movements “can be planned and operated with greater flexibility than a booked passenger service, which can assist with performance management and service recovery during disruption”.
The decisions are frustrating for Avanti. Three services will have to stop altogether while the Sunday evening Holyhead-Euston service will terminate at Crewe from December 14.
The 1932 Chester-Euston service only started in September and was highlighted in a press release on timetable improvements.
Describing the decisions as “disappointing”, an Avanti spokesperson said: “This will clearly impact those customers who already use these services.
“However, we will still be delivering even more services across our network from the start of the December timetable, including further additional trains on our Liverpool route.”
NR had also rejected including two current Euston-Glasgow via Birmingham services in each direction from December, however it has since reviewed its decision and accommodated them.
The number of Liverpool services will increase from 20 to 27 (northbound) and 21 to 26 (southbound) from December, bringing a regular two trains per hour schedule for more the day.
Network Rail is conducting power supply modelling to see if four more can be added at a later timetable change.
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