Azuma accepted: state-owned operator LNER accepted its first Azuma, nine-car bi-mode No 800103, on 8 March and said it will introduce the first new trains to passenger service on 15 May. Here No 800103 is seen at Edinburgh Waverley about to depart as working 5Q44 to Newcastle on 28 March 2019. Inset: visual of what the FirstGroup version of the IET train might look like at King’s Cross. Ian Lothian
FIRSTGROUP HAS ordered 5x5-car AT300 units from Hitachi for its new open access service between London and Edinburgh.
The service, planned to start in autumn 2021, will comprise five trains a day calling at Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth. The company is promising a ‘high-quality, low fare’ link which is seeking to compete with airlines for passengers. It plans an average fare of less than £25, on-board catering and free Wi-Fi with a single class of travel.
T1 the manufacture of the fleet.
First’s open access rights for the new service were approved by the Office of Rail and Road in April 2016. The company plans a journey time of approximately four hours for its services, which will include an early departure from London reaching Edinburgh by 10.00, designed to attract business passengers who usually fly.
A major recast of the East Coast timetable is set for December 2021, following completion by Network Rail of infrastructure enhancements including remodelling at King’s Cross and the new dive-under at Werrington, north of Peterborough. This will see the number of long-distance high-speed paths on the route rise to eight each hour, shared between LNER, the new FirstGroup service and existing open access operators Grand Central and Hull Trains.
