GRAND Central has been given the provisional go-ahead to run an extra train each day between York and London – but hopes of a door-to-door service from Poppleton to the capital have been scuppered.

The Office of Rail Regulation revealed its “proposed decision” on new track rights on the East Coast Main Line.

It said it was “minded” to allow York-based Grand Central to provide a fourth direct daily service to and from the capital.

But it was set to reject a separate bid by Hull Trains to run a direct service from Harrogate to London, which would have stopped on the way at villages west of York such as Poppleton and Hammerton.

Tom Clift, managing director of Grand Central, which launched services in December 2007, said: “The people of the north-east and North Yorkshire have campaigned long and hard in support of an additional direct daily service to the capital.

“Today, that path was granted by the ORR. Now the hard work begins in getting the processes and resources in place to enable this new daily return service between Sunderland and London to operate, we anticipate, from June of this year.”

Michael Lee, the regulator’s director of access, planning and performance, said a number of strong applications had been considered, and said passengers would benefit from the changes.

He said: “Some of the open access applications do not demonstrate sufficient benefits to offset the impact on existing operators, but we are approving a further increase in open access activity on the route, providing more choice for passengers and greater competition.

“We are also hopeful that ways can be found to step up National Express East Coast franchised services with a regular timetable pattern, although some detailed work remains to be done on this.

“This would make maximum use of the current capacity on the route, until projects for which Network Rail has just been funded deliver further increases in around five years’ time.”

The final decision is due to be confirmed by February 13.