Virgin Trains boosts weekend timetable for Edinburgh and Newcastle

Virgin Trains is introducing four new weekend services for Edinburgh and Newcastle in the latest shake-up of its east coast timetable.

Three new departures connecting Edinburgh to Newcastle and London are being introduced on Sunday to coincide with one of the busiest days for demand.

And a late Friday night service from Edinburgh to Newcastle at 22.01 will allow for a later night out in the Scottish capital. This will call at Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnmouth and Morpeth.

The new timetable takes effect from December 11 and will add 19 new services, 13,000 additional seats per week and dozens of extra stops to the network. It comes as Virgin Trains nears completion of a total overhaul of its entire train fleet.

The development follows on from the launch of 42 additional services linking Edinburgh to Newcastle and London in May and ahead of the introduction of the state-of-the-art fleet of Azuma trains in 2018, which will transform journeys on the east coast route. New services to Stirling and Sunderland were launched in 2015 after Virgin Trains took over the east coast route.

David Horne, Managing Director for Virgin Trains on the east coast said: “This is a great boost to our customers travelling along the east coast and especially to and from Edinburgh, Leeds and London.

“Having invested heavily into the customer experience, upgrading our train interiors and launching a new on board streaming service, the two journeys will fly by.”

Virgin Trains is investing £140m into its east coast route as part of its commitment to the eight year franchise. It has already invested £20m in refurbished carriages and provided a Netflix-style steaming service as part of its customer service improvements.

Notes to editors

Full additional services

Weekdays

22.57 London King’s Cross to York calling at Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate and Doncaster

Fridays only

22.01 Edinburgh Waverley to Newcastle calling at Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnmouth and Morpeth

Saturdays

05.30 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Grantham and Peterborough

08.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Grantham, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

11.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate and Doncaster

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

15.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Peterborough, Newark North Gate and Wakefield Westgate

15.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Newark North Gate

19.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

Sundays

08.43 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Peterborough

08:45 London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley calling at York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth

11.20 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and York

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

14.47 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

21.05 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster

and Wakefield Westgate

22.04 London King’s Cross to Doncaster calling at Peterborough, Grantham and Newark North Gate

ENDS