Virgin Trains is gearing up to introducing 42 new services a week between Edinburgh and London this May, boosting weekly seat capacity by 22,000 on the route.
Customers travelling between the capitals will see four new services daily in each direction from May 16, ensuring a half-hourly frequency throughout most of the day. Two additional services will be added on Sundays.
Seats went on sale last month after the Office of Rail and Road approved Virgin Trains' plans. The timetable boost is expected to lead to an upsurge in cross-border travel and has been welcomed by the UK and Scottish governments’ respective transport ministers.
UK Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “This is welcome news for passengers travelling between Edinburgh and London and demonstrates that Virgin Trains are delivering on their commitment to bring extra services and seats to this important route. The UK government knows how important the railways are to keeping Britain connected, which is why we are investing over £38 billion on the network in this parliament. The increase to Scottish services is evidence that this franchise is delivering real improvements for passengers.”
Derek Mackay, Scottish Government Minister for Transport and Islands, said: “This increased frequency of cross-border Virgin services between Edinburgh and London is good news, giving passengers more choice of services and helping to spread the pressure on existing services. I welcome these enhanced timetables, the greater connectivity they offer between Scotland and the south east of England and the benefits that they will bring to the rail passenger experience and economies of locations along the route.”
David Horne, Virgin Trains’ Managing Director on the east coast route, said: “This is a major boost for our customers travelling between Edinburgh and London who will be able to catch a train every half-hour for most of the day. We have seen how increasing capacity and frequency adds to the popularity of train travel and we’re confident that customers will respond positively to these changes. Feedback on our new train interiors, many of which have been fitted out at Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh, has been incredibly positive and customers are telling us they love the fresh, new look.”
More than a million people travel on Virgin Trains’ Edinburgh-London services per year and the route already enjoys a half-hourly frequency at peak times.
The new timetable will see four new departures from Edinburgh on weekdays, at 09:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 19:35, taking the total southbound trains to London to 25. The new services previously started from Newcastle.
In the northbound direction departures from King’s Cross at 06:15, 10:30, 13:30 and 17:30 will be extended to terminate at Edinburgh instead of Newcastle, taking the total to 23 on weekdays.
On Sundays, two new services will be added to the timetable, boosting capacity between Edinburgh, Newcastle and London. This will result in two additional Edinburgh-London services, one southbound and one northbound.
