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A plan to axe the 7am Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston train service has been dropped, it has now been confirmed.

Industry regulator The Office Rail and Road (ORR) had earmarked the weekday Avanti West Cost service - which stops only at Stockport and reaches the capital in under two hours - for the chop in the new timetable which comes into effect from December 15.

It was still to travel, in order to move staff from Manchester to London, but without any passengers, seeing it dubbed the 'ghost train.'

The ORR initially said the decision was based on 'robust evidence' from Network Rail that the service would have to run on a 'firebreak' path on the West Coast Mainline, and that removing passengers meant it could be more flexibly delayed or re-routed, which would imp

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