London North Eastern Railway

This article is about the current train operating company. For historical, see London and North Eastern Railway. For the former train operating company, see Virgin Trains East Coast.

London North Eastern Railway

Overview
Franchise(s)	InterCity East Coast 24 June 2018 - Onwards
Main region(s)	Greater London East of England East Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber North East England Scotland
Fleet size	14 InterCity 125 sets 30 InterCity 225 sets
Stations called at	53
Stations operated	12
Parent company	Department for Transport
Reporting mark	GR
Other
Website	http://www.lner.co.uk

London North Eastern Railway
Inverness Carrbridge Aviemore Kingussie Newtonmore Blair Atholl Pitlochry Dunkeld & Birnam Perth Gleneagles Dunblane Stirling Falkirk Grahamston Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Reston Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth Morpeth Newcastle Durham Darlington Middlesbrough Thornaby Northallerton Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square York Shipley Harrogate Horsforth Hull Paragon Brough Selby Leeds Wakefield Westgate Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark Northgate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a train operating company that operates the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line from London Kings Cross to North East England and Scotland since the 24th June 2018. Owned by the Department for Transport, it is operated by a consortium of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit.

History

In November 2017 Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling announced the early termination of the InterCity East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by operator Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC), who had been due to pay more than £2 billion in franchise premiums to the government over the last four years of its contract.

This was brought forward in February 2018 to mid-2018. The Department for Transport (DfT) decided to either negotiate a deal with VTEC to continue to run the franchise on a temporary non-profit basis while a new franchise competition is conducted or to arrange for VTEC be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort, a partnership of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit. On 16 May 2018 it was announced that the latter had been decided and that LNER would take over from VTEC on 24 June 2018. The DfT also announced that LNER would be the long term brand applied to the InterCity East Coast franchise. As part of the overall strategy for the East Coast franchise, the Secretary of State for Transport stated that Great Northern services could potentially be integrated into the operation when the Thameslink Southern & Great Northern franchise expires in 2021.

LNER is the second time that a government appointed operator of last resort has taken control of the InterCity East Coast franchise; between 2009 and 2015 the franchise was operated by East Coast following National Express East Coast defaulting.

Services

LNER will take over the following services from VTEC:

Leeds & West Yorkshire
Route	tph	Calling at	Peak-time extensions
London King's Cross to Leeds (and West Yorkshire)	2tph	1tph: Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate 1tph: Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate	1tpd to Skipton via Keighley 1tpd to Bradford Forster Square via Shipley 1tpd to Harrogate via Horsforth
Hull & East Yorkshire
London King's Cross to Newark North Gate (and York)	1tph	Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham; 1tp2h extended to York calling at Retford and Doncaster	1tpd to Lincoln 1tpd to Hull
North East & Scotland (Express)
Route	tph	Calling at	Peak-time extensions
London King's Cross to Edinburgh (express)	1tph	York, Darlington, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed	1tpd to Inverness 1tpd to Stirling 4tpd to Aberdeen (3 from London King's Cross, 1 from Leeds)
North East & Scotland (Semi Fast)
Route	tph	Calling at	Peak-time extensions
London King's Cross to Edinburgh (semi-fast)	1tph	Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster, York, Northallerton (1tp2h), Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Alnmouth (1tp2h) (Northallerton and Alnmouth are usually served by alternate trains)	1tpd to Glasgow Central 1tpd to Sunderland

Named trains

Further information: List of named passenger trains of the United Kingdom

London North Eastern Railway will operate a number of named passenger trains, including:

Name	Origin	Destination	Other details
Flying Scotsman	London King's Cross	Edinburgh Waverley	Service began 1862 in both directions; named by LNER in 1924
Highland Chieftain	London King's Cross	Inverness	the longest LNER route
Northern Lights	London King's Cross	Aberdeen

Rolling stock

LNER will inherit a fleet of InterCity 125 and InterCity 225s from VTEC. Since September 2016, VTEC had hired three Class 90s from DB Cargo for use on services to Newark, York and Leeds. LNER are expected to retain these locomotives to cover for the current shortage of Class 91 locomotives.

Initial fleet

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Notes
				mph	km/h
InterCity 125	Class 43		Diesel locomotive	125	200	32
	Mark 3 carriage		Passenger carriage	125	200	130 14x9 + 4 spare
InterCity 225	Class 90		Electric locomotive	110	177	6	A short term hire-in to cover for a shortfall in Class 91s from DB Cargo. Usually 1 or 2 supplied from a pool of 6.
	Class 91		Electric locomotive	140	225	31
	Mark 4 carriage		Passenger carriage	140	225	302
	Driving Van Trailer		Driving Van Trailer	140	225	31

Future fleet

The current fleet is scheduled to be replaced by Class 800/Class 801 high-speed trains from December 2018. These will operate in 9-carriage and 5-carriage sets.

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number of Units/Sets	Carriages	Routes
				mph	km/h
Hitachi Super Express	Class 800 Azuma	File:LNER Azuma.jpg	Bi-Mode Multiple Unit	140	225	10	5	All
						13	9
	Class 801 Azuma		EMU	140	225	12	5	All electrified routes
						30	9

External Links

• Official website