Commission laments lack of “all information” in decision to allow empty trains on Manchester-London line
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has admitted that it “did not have all the information available when making the decision not to allow passengers to use a peak-time train service between Manchester and London.”
The ORR stated it lacked “critical points” when making a decision that would have reinforced a daily “ghost train” service for months.
ORR Chief Executive John Larkinson said his organization did not know the train would be “fully staffed,” would start from Manchester Piccadilly station instead of a storage siding, and that it had to arrive at Euston station to become the 09:30 service to Glasgow.
“The information available later meant that our assumption had incorrectly evaporated,” he said.
This comes after the ORR faced backlash in November over its decision to allow the popular 07:00 train service to operate, but only with its crew. This controversial decision was set to be implemented from mid-December but was quickly reversed after significant criticism, including from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
The ORR had attempted to justify its decision by saying the service must run empty so its slot could be used as a “firebreak”—a planned gap in the timetable in case of delays.
However, in a letter addressed by Larkinson to the Chair of the Transport Select Committee, Ruth Cadbury, he stated that the facts that emerged later meant the slot could no longer be considered an effective firebreak.
Larkinson said the ORR team assessing the request did not ask Avanti for further information that would have clarified these points. He added that if the ORR team had contacted Avanti, their decision “might have been different, but they were busy and trying to clear many interlocking decisions.”
He noted that the ORR was processing 82 “complex and contested” track access applications at that time. Even when the train operating company lodged a complaint last November, the points they raised were not “appropriately escalated,” according to the letter.
Larkinson described the matter as an “unusual case, but not one from which we cannot learn.” He added: “I take full responsibility for what happened, and we are strengthening our policy to reflect the lessons learned.”
Ruth Cadbury, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, added: “The public needed to understand why the ORR made a decision not to allow the 7:00 AM service from Manchester to London to carry passengers when a fully staffed train was already running.”
“On the face of it, this was a strange decision, especially when the train was popular and profitable, which led the Transport Committee to raise some questions.”
She said: “Now that we have some answers detailing why this happened, we welcome the admission of responsibility.” She added that the committee would look into ways to avoid similar situations in the future as the government establishes Great British Railways.
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