Most often, we still opt for taking domestic flights to cut down on travel times, especially when it comes to travelling to and from Scotland. However, this could soon change as LNER is planning to cut down its London to Edinburgh train times to around four hours.
While the flight time itself is roughly an hour, counting in commute times at both destinations and having to arrive early at the airport before the flight takes travellers about four hours to get from point A to point B. Currently, the quickest LNER Azuma train is still only around four hours and 20 minutes, so it’s already not that much longer than flying.
However, the long-planned move to shorten the train journeys is set to encourage passengers to lean towards train travel even more, offering a much greener solution to travel. The 400-mile route starts at London Kings Cross, terminating at Edinburgh Waverley in the heart of the Scottish Capital.
Not only can travellers enjoy free wifi the whole time, but all they need to do is just sit down and relax during the whole journey instead of having to worry about going through security at the airport.
The final stage of the shorter LNER Azuma train times between London and Edinburgh was announced more than a decade ago and was originally supposed to launch in 2019. However, the project was first delayed, immediately followed by the pandemic, resulting in even more roadblocks for the train operator.
The UK Government is still yet to approve the new accelerated trains. If the plan to speed up the East Coast line is given the go-ahead, there would be two speedy trains an hour – the Northbound journey would take four hours and five minutes, while the Southbound trip would be four hours and eight minutes. What is more, the trains would only stop in York and Newcastle.
To help navigate the limited express route, new hourly services would also be introduced between Newcastle and London. According to LNER, the new route could help switch up to 60% of passengers to train travel between the two cities, spreading awareness of the need to cut emissions.
The project completion date is yet to be announced, as the Department for Transport (DfT) still needs to make a final decision if the express train can go ahead.