ORR rejects new West Coast services

Office of Rail and Road

08 October 2026

 

ORR rejects new West Coast services over capacity constraints and risk of worsening delays for passengers  

Proposals for new train services between London and Wrexham, Rochdale and Blackpool have been rejected by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) after its assessment found adding more trains to the West Coast Main Line would likely increase delays and cancelled trains for passengers. 

The rail regulator rejected applications from the Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway Company (WSMR) for four return Wrexham-London Euston services and Lumo's up to four return Rochdale-Euston services. It also rejected Avanti West Coast's application for additional Blackpool-Euston services. 

ORR's assessment following detailed and extensive analysis is that the capacity and performance of the southern section of the West Coast Main Line has not materially changed since similar applications were rejected in 2025. An external review commissioned by ORR also supported this conclusion. 

Gaps in the current timetable need to provide important space for trains to recover when disruption occurs, minimising delays to passengers. ORR concluded that adding more services into these windows in the timetable for recovery would reduce that resilience, increasing the risk of disruption spreading to other services and affecting more passengers. 

ORR has however approved access for Avanti's weekday 19:29 Chester to Euston service to carry passengers until December 2030. This train already runs as a fully crewed empty service and will continue to do so, so the decision does not add another train to the route but will instead add benefit for passengers. 

Stephanie Tobyn, ORR's director of strategy, policy and reform, said: 

"New services, destinations and greater choice can bring real benefits for passengers and communities. But the West Coast Main Line is already under significant pressure, with performance reflecting limited resilience on a heavily used part of the rail network. 

"Our detailed analysis has shown that adding more trains to the current timetable would reduce the ability to recover when disruption occurs, increasing the risk of delays spreading and making reliability of the network worse for all passengers." 

Notes to editors 

1.   Decision on applications for access to the West Coast Main Line (WCML)

2.   Applicants' proposed services: 

·      Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway Company (WSMR): four daily return services between Wrexham General and London Euston (three firm rights and one contingent right). 

·      First Rail Stirling (Lumo): four daily return services between Rochdale and London Euston on weekdays and Saturdays, and three daily return services on Sundays. 

·      Avanti West Coast: one new weekday and one new Saturday return service between Blackpool North and London Euston, and one weekday Chester to London Euston passenger service, currently operated as an empty coaching stock movement  

3.   In July 2025, ORR rejected applications for additional West Coast Main Line services from WSMR, Lumo NW and Virgin Trains because there was insufficient capacity to introduce any of the proposed services without a detrimental impact on performance. 

4.   ORR's open access guidance  

5.   ORR is the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain's railways. ORR's role is to ensure that passenger train companies and freight companies have fair access to the rail network and that best use is made of finite capacity. 

 

END