The rail regulator has turned down two more open access applications, on the grounds that there is not enough capacity on the West Coast Main Line.
The Office of Rail and Road had been considering proposals for four return services between London Euston and Wrexham General from the Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway Company. It has also refused Lumo’s plans for up to four daily trains between London Euston and Rochdale and an application from Avanti West Coast for more paths between London Euston and Blackpool North, saying that more trains on the West Coast Main Line would be likely to increase delays or cancellations because the number of spare paths would be reduced.
The ORR did say that Avanti’s weekday 19.29 Chester to London Euston service may carry passengers until December 2030. This train already runs empty, and so this approval does not need any extra paths.
The ORR said its assessment had followed ‘detailed and extensive analysis’. The conclusion was 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.’
Director of strategy, policy and reform at the ORR Stephanie Tobyn 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.’
The decision follows the news that Grand Central has agreed to lease another four Class 180 units if its application for a new open access route between Newcastle upon Tyne and Brighton is approved by the ORR. Five trains a day would call at Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Warwick Parkway, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, London Gatwick, Haywards Heath and Brighton.
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