London and Glasgow to be linked by new service from ‘budget train company’

Rail passengers looking to travel between London and Glasgow will get a new service from affordable rail company Lumo.

Lumo, part of transport company FirstGroup, is set to extend its existing London King’s Cross-Edinburgh services to Glasgow after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) approved the plan.

Lumo will be able to provide two northbound services and one southbound service between London King’s Cross and Glasgow on weekdays, as well as one in each direction on Sundays.

Avanti West Coast largely dominates direct services between Glasgow and London, rolling in and out of Euston to Glagsow Central on weekdays and weekends. At peak times, these tickets can climb to over £100, but tickets can be purchased for lower fares depending on the number of changes and the time of travel.

Lumo’s current Edinburgh-London service hovers just under or over the £50 mark for single tickets, depending on the time you travel. It is unclear how much the new Glasgow-London tickets will cost, but on its website, Lumo promises passengers “fantastic value tickets, that don’t cost the earth or your wallet”.

In April, the train company was found by consumer site Which? to be cheaper than its East Coast Main Line competitor, LNER, on its Edinburgh-London route.

While Lumo does not explicitly advertise itself as a budget train service, Which? likened the train service to budget airlines due to not having first class carriages, no buffet cart, cheaper fares and stricter baggage allowances.

Richard Salkeld, head of communications and partnerships at Lumo, told Metro that the majority of its customers who want to get between London and Glasgow cannot afford the extortionate rail fares.

“Lumo is an open-access operator, which means we take full commercial risk for running the services. We don’t get government or public subsidiary — we take on the risk and have to be confident that we can make it work, all while complementing the existing services that already run,” Mr Salkeld said.

“Glasgow is somewhere we’re looking forward to serving, and we’re confident we can make it as successful as our London to Edinburgh route.”

In order to connect Glasgow with the UK capital on Lumo trains, Network Rail said it can accommodate services between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street on weekdays and Sundays, all of which will be extensions of existing services.

The decision comes as part of ORR’s plan to offer more links between northern towns and cities and with London on the East Coast Main Line.

Alongside approving more direct rail links for Hull Trains and Grand Central, Lumo was also granted one additional return service between London King’s Cross and Newcastle on weekdays, and one additional service in opposing directions on a Saturday and Sunday.

Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform, said: “Approving these additional open access services will increase connectivity on the East Coast Main Line.

“Importantly, we have ensured the approval of these services can be accommodated alongside the major service uplifts by other operators, which have been planned into the December 2025 timetable, so together passengers and freight customers can benefit from more direct connections and greater choice from December.”

The exact launch date has not yet been confirmed by Lumo for its new services.

The Independent has contacted Lumo for comment.

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