Azuma made its first test run from Edinburgh to Inverness recently as part of our plans to transform cross-border rail travel.

The test run by manufacturer Hitachi is part of a programme to prepare Scotland for the 65-strong Azuma fleet. The first of these will enter service from December 2018 as part of a two-year rollout programme, with Azuma services due to operate from five of Scotland’s cities from 2019.

Hitachi have also invested £18 million to modernise depots at Aberdeen, Inverness, and Edinburgh to ensure that they can service our new fleet, securing long-term engineering jobs at these locations.