London North Eastern Railway

In November 2017, the then Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, announced the early termination of the InterCity East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by operator Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC), who had been due to pay more than £2 billion in franchise premiums to the government over the last four years of its contract.[5][6]

This was brought forward in February 2018 to mid-2018. The Department for Transport (DfT) decided to either negotiate a deal with VTEC to continue to run the franchise on a temporary non-profit basis while a new franchise competition was conducted, or to arrange for VTEC be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort.[7][8][9] On 16 May 2018, it was announced that the latter had been decided and that LNER would take over from VTEC on 24 June 2018.[10][11] The DfT also announced that LNER would be the long-term brand applied to the InterCity East Coast franchise.[12] As part of the overall strategy for the East Coast franchise, the Secretary of State for Transport stated that Great Northern services could potentially be integrated into the operation when the Thameslink Southern & Great Northern franchise expires in 2021.[13]

LNER is the second time that a government appointed operator of last resort has taken control of the InterCity East Coast franchise; between 2009 and 2015 the franchise was operated by East Coast following National Express East Coast defaulting.[14][15]

The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four companies which operated between 1923 and 1948.

As of December 2021, the current off-peak service pattern is:[16]

An expanded service to Lincoln began on 21 October 2019 when four terminating services at Newark Northgate were extended into Lincoln.[17] This is in addition to the sole one train per day service, which in all, now provides five out and back workings to and from London King's Cross. LNER also plans for December 2019 timetable change that a sixth return service to London from Lincoln will be introduced and 5 extra services on a Saturday will begin from 7 December 2019.[18] From December 2019, LNER introduced a Harrogate to London service 6 times a day.[19] LNER expects to introduce two-hourly services to Bradford and a daily service to Huddersfield in May 2020 when more Azuma trains have been introduced.[20][21] Future destinations include a proposed service to Middlesbrough, though the Rail Minister, Jo Johnson, told Parliament that it was dependent on the Azumas being brought into service on the ECML and other schemes in progress that would provide sufficient capacity to enable the service to run.[22] This service commenced on 13 December 2021.

Three generations of East Coast Main Line trains at York. A Class 43 InterCity 125 (left) with a Class 800 Azuma (centre) and a InterCity 225 (right)

LNER inherited a fleet of InterCity 125 and InterCity 225s from Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC). Since September 2016, VTEC had hired three Class 90s from DB Cargo for use on services to Newark, York and Leeds. LNER inherited these locomotives and retained them until June 2019 to cover for the shortage of Class 91 locomotives.

In May 2019, the first lot of Class 800 trains began entering service with the Class 801 trains also following on in September. These units are based on the Hitachi A-train design and LNER retained the Azuma brand for the units which was originally designated by VTEC.[23] The initial operation of these units allowed the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleets to be replaced gradually. The first Azuma train to enter service was a nine-carriage 800/1 on 15 May on the Leeds route from King's Cross.[24] Other subclasses of the 800 and 801 variants entered service afterwards, with the first two five-carriage 801/1 sets entering service on 16 September operating as a ten-carriage train, the first lot of five-carriage 800/2 sets entering service to coincide with the launch of the new King's Cross - Lincoln services on 21 October and the first two nine-carriage 801/2 sets entering service on 18 November.[25][26][27][28] As of May 2021, all units in the Azuma fleet have now entered service following unit 800109's return to service, which was the unit involved in the derailment at Neville Hill TMD in November 2019 and subsequently had to undergo repairs.[29][30]

Following the withdrawal of the InterCity 125 fleet in December 2019, it was previously thought that the InterCity 225 fleet would be fully withdrawn by June 2020.[31] However, LNER announced on 29 January 2020 that they would be retaining a limited number of the InterCity 225 fleet to deliver all of the benefits of their December 2021 timetable.[32] In September 2020, Eversholt Rail Group and London North Eastern Railway extended their lease to ten by 2023. In addition, there are options to make it operational until 2024. It will be overhauled at the Wabtec Doncaster plant.[33][34]

At the end of service on 15 January 2021, the remaining serviceable InterCity 225 sets went into storage temporarily as part of the East Coast Upgrade.[35] Originally, the plan was to return the sets to service for 7 June 2021 but instead the first set re-entered service on 11 May 2021 due to a number of Azuma sets having to be taken out of service.[36]

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Built	Carriages	Notes
			mph	km/h
InterCity 225 trains
91		Electric locomotive	140	225	12	1988–1991	7 sets formed of 9 carriages each	Seating Map Were out of service between 15 January and 11 May 2021.
Mark 4		Passenger carriage			135	1989–1992
Driving Van Trailer		Control car			8	1988
Hitachi AT300 Azuma trains
800/1		Bi-mode multiple unit	140	225	13	2015–2018	9	Seating Map
800/2					10	2018	5
801/1		Electric multiple unit			12	2017–2020	5
801/2					30		9

Past fleet

The entry into service of the Azuma fleet allowed all fourteen of LNER's HST sets to be withdrawn from service, with the last three sets working their final services with LNER on 15 December 2019.[37] Nine of the sets transferred to East Midlands Railway, with two power cars from one set transferring to CrossCountry to supplement its existing five sets.[38]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Built	Carriages
			mph	km/h
InterCity 125 trains (HSTs)
43		Diesel locomotive	125	200	32	1976–1982	14 sets formed of 9 carriages each
Mark 3		Passenger carriage			130	1975–1988
InterCity 225 trains
91		Electric locomotive	140	225	17	1988–1991	17 sets formed of 9 carriages each
Mark 4		Passenger carriage			158	1989–1992
Driving Van Trailer		Control car			19	1988

LNER's fleet is stored and maintained at the following depots:

• Aberdeen Clayhills Carriage Maintenance Depot – managed by LNER
• Bounds Green TMD, London – managed by Hitachi
• Craigentinny TMD, Edinburgh – managed by Hitachi
• Doncaster Carr Rail Depot – managed by Hitachi
• Heaton TMD, Newcastle – managed by Northern
• Neville Hill TMD, Leeds – managed by Northern[39]

• Media related to London North Eastern Railway at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website