No green light for four-hour train to London

Published on Friday 30 January 2009 21:21

PLANS for non-stop trains taking four hours between Edinburgh and London have been rejected by rail regulators.

The twice-daily return services proposed by budding operator Platinum Trains would "essentially duplicate" existing services, according to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

It also said the company was unlikely to achieve the planned journey times.

The Doncaster-based firm had planned to run trains from December between Aberdeen and London, also calling at Dundee, to attract air passengers.

Trains would stop in England only for a crew change in York, cutting Edinburgh-London journeys by 30 minutes from the current 4 hours, and Aberdeen-London trips by one hour to about 6 hours.

National Express East Coast runs Edinburgh-London trains, some of which continue to and from Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. First ScotRail also serves the Edinburgh-Aberdeen route.

National Express said it had no plans to run non-stop trains, as the southern end of the east coast main line was too congested. It plans to cut Edinburgh-London journeys by seven minutes to an average of four hours 26 minutes in December.

The ORR said it backed plans by National Express for a new timetable enabling trains to run at regular intervals, but this required agreement by the government and Network Rail. It also approved extra trains by several other operators on the east coast route in England.