LNER confirms 'transformational' Edinburgh-London rail journey time cut

Passengers will see many rail journeys between London and Edinburgh cut to just over four hours from next December after long-awaited plans were confirmed on Thursday.

London North Eastern railway (LNER) has been given approval to operate one of its two trains an hour between the capitals in four hours and eight to ten minutes, stopping only at York and Newcastle.

This compares to an average of four hours 30 minutes, while the daily 5.40am Edinburgh-London “Flying Scotsman” service completes the journey in four hours.

The faster-accelerating Azuma trains introduced in 2019 will help cut journey times | Lisa Ferguson/The Scotsman

The news comes after The Scotsman revealed in January that LNER hoped to introduce the improvement this month. We also reported on December it would be confirmed within weeks.

However, it is believed to have been delayed by discussions by the rail industry over the new timetable since several operators use the east coast main line.

Lumo will also be able to speed up its services between Edinburgh and London, and TransPennine Express add more trains between Edinburgh and Newcastle.

LNER described the change as “transformational”, which will also see a third hourly train Newcastle and London King’s Cross.

The faster services will only stop at Newcastle and York compared to multiple stops by LNER’s other trains.

It said the faster journeys, thanks to track upgrades and the company’s faster-accelerating Azuma trains, will boost rail’s share against air travel between Edinburgh and London to 60 per cent.

LNER said rail held 46 per cent of the market against 54 per cent for air. The line’s maximum speed remains at 125mph.

LNER managing director David Horne said: “This transformational timetable will guarantee thousands of extra seats each day on the East Coast route, cutting journey times and providing much needed capacity.

“With this new timetable, we’ll be able to serve many destinations more regularly and contribute at least an additional £108 million per year of economic value to the UK, while supporting greener and more sustainable journeys.”

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Lumo, which also operates trains between Edinburgh and London, said it expected to benefit from journey time reductions of up to 14 minutes, with its fastest service taking four hours five minutes between the cities. It hopes to be permitted to extend some of its services to and from Glasgow.

Managing director Martijn Gilbert said: “We welcomes the agreement of the new timetable for the east coast main line, following a lot of cross-industry work, which we have been involved with.”

Chris Jackson, managing director of TransPennine Express (TPE), said: “This new timetable has been developed following a decade of planning and investment by train operators and Network Rail and will pave the way for greater connectivity for our customers.

“It is particularly fantastic news for those in Scotland and the north east of England as there will be eight services a day operated by TPE between Edinburgh and Newcastle, with trains running every two hours from December 2025.

“Our existing Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed route will be replaced with Edinburgh and Newcastle services, which will call at East Linton, Dunbar, Reston, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnmouth and Morpeth.”

At the moment, TPE operates five return services between Edinburgh-Newcastle and two return services between Edinburgh-Berwick-upon-Tweed.