sisyphus1965 - I think you are wrong about the trains. The Manchester St Pancras train service was mandated by the Strategic Rail authority, specifically to provide rail capacity whilst bits of the west coast mine line are closed for upgrading later this year. So that service will definitely go ahead. In fact, trains formerly used by Virgin-rail have been re-allocated to MidlandMainLine specifically for this purpose.
Perhaps the cash-rich but time-short travellers from Manchester would take the VLM service to LCY. But for time-rich / cash-short travellers, surely the train (despite less than brilliant service levels) will be more cost effective most of the time.
Going back to theme, these guys have been very successful on the
PR front. Lots of uncritical coverage on both tv and the papers over the last 24 hours.