An express train service from Stockport to London will now be accepting passengers, following controversy that it would be running empty as part of a new timetable.

The 7am-9am from Manchester to London, run by Avanti West Coast, is the fastest train between the cities at one hour and 59 minutes, stopping only at Manchester, Stockport and London.

However, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) had planned to stop passengers from travelling on this train from 15 December as part of a timetable alteration.

The official reasoning was that an empty train would be easier to move around a busy network during times of disruption - in other words, when the network was busy and facing delays, an empty train could be moved out of the way more flexibly and pose less of a burden on the allocation of slots.

Nonetheless, the move caused controversy as it left passengers without a fast early service which would get them to the capital by 9am.

It was also seen as a waste, with considerable expense required in energy and train staff to move an empty train.

Within days, the ORR reversed its decision, meaning the 7.09am from Stockport to Euston will continue to host passengers.

(Avanti train image by Peter Trimming, licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

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