Lumo is aiming to create an additional 13 million passenger rail journeys in the next decade and has reported an encouraging start with 90% of its initial tickets already sold. In the brief for the new service, Wylde said Lumo was tasked with finding out why and to come up with an offer that can “reimagine rail” and realise this potential to grow use. Discussions are also underway with Network Rail to deliver improvements in journey time, including a potential 15-minute reduction in May 2022.īoth Montgomery and Ms Helen Wylde, Lumo managing director, emphasised in their speeches during the opening event that just 8% of the British population is a regular rail user. Lumo will also operate the first and last train from London to reach Edinburgh each day, with an early morning service arriving before 10.00, opening up a potentially attractive journey not previously available. Each of the station stops is located close to a regional airport - Stevenage at Luton, Newcastle, and Morpeth at either Newcastle or Edinburgh - and early marketing campaigns are targeting people who use the airport. Lumo is targeting new rail users, especially those who might be inclined to fly rather than use the train. The use of solely electric traction is consistent with Lumo’s focus on sustainability, which is emphasised in its marketing message. Each train has 398 seats and four tip seats and there is a single class, reflecting the operator’s desire to offer a high level of service to all passengers and to avoid an “outdated” classification system.
Lumo train series#
The £100m fleet is financed by Beacon Rail and the trains are the first of the 80X series that are not fitted with a diesel engine, with an auxiliary battery able to offer four hours of hotel power should the train fail. The fourth of five five-car class 803 EMUs built by Hitachi Rail in Newton Aycliffe was delivered to Lumo on October 22 and the fifth train is scheduled to be handed over on December 22. This will increase to four return trips in December and five daily return trains in May 2022. Regular passenger operation on commenced on October 25 with the FirstGroup subsidiary initially offering two daily return trips on Sunday - Friday, and one train each way on Saturdays, calling at Stevenage (on one southbound journey Sunday - Friday), Newcastle, Morpeth, and Edinburgh for an approximate 4h 30min journey time. Montgomery was speaking to a packed platform of representatives from partners, the wider rail industry and media at King’s Cross ahead of the inaugural run of the train up the East Coast Main Line (ECML) to Edinburgh Waverley.
We believe that the offer we provide our passengers will be different to what they already receive and that we can be competitive with airlines travelling between London and Edinburgh.” “This is about attracting new passengers to rail. “THIS has been five years in the making and it is something we are really proud of,” Mr Steve Montgomery, FirstGroup Rail managing director, told the launch event for Lumo, Britain’s latest open-access passenger operator, at London King’s Cross on October 21.
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