Rail travellers make a meal of first class

FREE food has led to record numbers of passengers travelling first class on Scotland’s main cross-Border train service.

East Coast said it had 182,000 people in first class last month, the most for at least 17 years.

The firm, which operates on the east coast main line, said the total had increased by more than one third on Edinburgh-London King’s Cross journeys since it introduced free food and more frequent and faster trains last May.

Managing director Karen Boswell said: “These new figures confirm the increase in passenger journeys we saw within weeks of the launch of the new first-class customer service was only the beginning.

“Following this good start, we’ll continue to work hard to improve the consistency of our customer service – and welcome more people on board in first class.”

East Coast, which is owned by the UK government, took over from National Express, which abandoned its franchise three years ago.

Ministers plan to return the operation to the private sector in a new franchise contest next year.