Britain's rail regulator has approved Virgin Trains' bid to transform east coast services following the introduction of its fleet of cleaner, faster, more comfortable Azuma trains in 2018.
Regular journeys between Edinburgh and London will be accelerated to just four hours as part of the timetable, which will also increase capacity from King's Cross at peak times by 28%.
We applied for a new nine-year track access contract to help us achieve major improvements to our timetable from May 2019, which was approved in full by the Office of Rail and Road.
As well as a fast service, stopping alternatively at Newcastle, then at both Newcastle and London, the timetable includes a slower service on the half-hour which will provide more connections for customers travelling to and from Scotland.