ORR response to Transport Select Committee Chair, 7am Avanti service from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston
21 January 2026
ORR spokesperson: “ORR has a good track record of getting the balance right in granting permission to new services and ensuring there is enough room on the rail network to recover when things go wrong.
“Our original decision was taken based on the information available to us at the time. But Network Rail and Avanti’s representations did not make sufficiently clear the operational implications of rejecting this service – specifically that the train would still run fully crewed; would start from Manchester Piccadilly station and not the Longsight depot; and that this train was essential for forming the 09:30 Glasgow departure from London.”
“In this instance we were given new information after our decision was made which we did not properly consider, although we should have done and as a result, we missed the opportunity to re-visit our decision. When all the facts were made clear, we moved quickly to maintain the service for passengers. We are taking learnings from this instance and will continue to work with the rail industry to get decisions right first time.”
