London North Eastern Railway tables plans for speedier trains from May 2022
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has tabled plans for more and speedier trains towards Edinburgh, Newcastle and York from May next year.
LNER is eyeing next May to bolster the East Coast main line, after the original launch planned for May this year was pushed back due to the pandemic.
London King’s Cross is set to host faster journey’s to the northern cities, with speedy links between Newcastle and London to be timetabled for two hours, 50 minutes – around 10 minutes quicker than currently.
David Horne, managing director of LNER, said: “While train operators generally tweak their timetables twice a year, full timetable rewrites do not come along often, and our last was in 2011.
“The 2022 rewrite is all about turning investment in our new trains and upgraded tracks into the improved train services that those investments have always been intended to underpin.”
LNER said it plans to “assure everyone a seat – resolving the issues we and our customers faced pre-pandemic when many of our services were at or over capacity”.
Durham will have slightly more services and Darlington fewer services than today, as the new timetable aims to tailor trips to typical activity.
With better rail infrastructure and new Azuma trains that have better acceleration, the service will allow quicker journeys and 40 more departures.
As the UK recovers from the pandemic and a boom of domestic travel await this summer, the aim is to lure travellers from road and air to rail.