The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has rejected proposals for new direct train services from London to Wrexham and London to Rochdale, citing limited capacity on the West Coast Main Line. The regulator stated that the current usage of the railway does not allow for additional services without increasing the risk of delays and compromising reliability.
The ORR emphasized that maintaining timetable gaps is crucial for allowing trains to recover from disruptions and preventing delays from cascading across the network. This decision follows previous rejections of similar proposals for direct routes to Wrexham and Rochdale. The planned Wrexham service aimed to establish a new direct connection between the Welsh town and London, while the proposed Lumo service sought to link Rochdale with the capital.
Additionally, plans for increased London-Blackpool services were also turned down. Nonetheless, the ORR approved one additional evening service from London to Chester, operated by Avanti. This approval allows a train, which would otherwise have returned to a depot without passengers, to carry customers instead.
The regulator concluded that capacity and performance conditions on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line remain largely unchanged since the previous assessments that led to similar proposal rejections. This consistent evaluation underscores the ongoing challenges in accommodating new services on the heavily trafficked rail line.