If you’ve been dreaming of a Scotland trip but haven’t had the budget for it, this cheap new route operated by the ‘Ryanair of trains’ might make your plans a reality
You could soon find yourself on a train from London to Scotland for a complete bargain.
Budget-friendly rail company Lumo has just announced a new line going straight from London King’s Cross to Glasgow Queen Street, which promises to be “fantastic value” for customers.
Lumo has previously been dubbed the ‘Ryanair of trains’, drawing comparison to several budget carriers due to its cheaper tickets, baggage limits and lack of first class.
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The all-electric company already runs a direct line between Edinburgh and King’s Cross with one-way tickets costing as little as £49 if you book in advance (which can be even cheaper with a railcard).
The extension of the existing service, which has been approved by the ORR, will see Lumo provide two northbound services and one southbound service between London King’s Cross and Glasgow Queen Street on weekdays. They will also provide one in each direction on Sundays.
At present, the only direct rail service between London King’s Cross and Glasgow is by Avanti’s West Coast line, where an off-peak single ticket can cost as much £133, while passengers can see themselves paying out £208 in peak times.
Meanwhile, Lumo’s current Edinburgh-London service hovers just under or over the £50 mark for single tickets, depending on when you travel. While they haven’t set an exact fare for the Glasgow-London tickets, Lumo’s website promises passengers “fantastic value tickets, that don’t cost the earth or your wallet”.
Richard Salkeld, head of communications and partnerships at Lumo told Metro that most of its customers are travellers who want to journey between London and Glasgow but can’t afford extortionate rail prices.
He explained: “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.
“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.”
Given that Lumo’s route between London and Edinburgh comes in at £49, with Glasgow’s stop coming after, customers can likely expect the tickets to be somewhat more expensive.
While Lumo does not call itself as a budget service, Consumer site Which? claims that the company’s prices and services can be compared to low cost airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet, due to the cheaper tickets, lack of first class carriages, no buffet cart, and baggage limits.