East Coast Trains


East Coast Trains is a future open access operator in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup. It has been granted permission by the Office of Rail & Road to operate up to five return services per day between London King's Cross and Edinburgh via the East Coast Main Line from October 2021.

History

In 2015, the Office of Rail & Road called for expressions of interest for open access operators to bid for extra paths on the East Coast Main Line. In May 2016, FirstGroup were granted a track-access agreement for five services in each direction from May 2021. In March 2019, it was announced operations would begin in autumn 2021.

Services

East Coast Trains will operate five services a day in each direction between London King's Cross and Edinburgh calling at Stevenage, Newcastle and Morpeth.

Operations

FirstGroup intends to compete with existing rail, coach and air services on the London-Edinburgh route by offering tickets with an average fare price of £25 and free Wi-Fi connectivity for all passengers. The service will not have 1st class seating in any of the fleet, so all five trains will be standard class only.

Rolling stock

In March 2019, East Coast Trains ordered a fleet of five 5-car 125mph AT300s. All trains will have buffet cars and only one class of seating accommodation, with no first class carriages available. They will be electric and will also be fitted with batteries in case of any failures with the overhead line equipment.