Newcastle rail firm Lumo is to start running new services between London, the North West and central Scotland.
The company, which is part of transport giant First Group, has secured the use of five trains which it will use for its new route between London Euston and the city of Stirling. Services will also call at Milton Keynes Central, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert, starting next year.
Lumo - which currently runs trains between Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow, but wants to add new services - is planning to run four return services a day on the full route, with an additional daily return service between Euston and Preston. It holds track access rights from regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for the route on the West Coast Main Line until 2030.
The new West Coast services were initially planned to start this year, but FirstGroup said they are “currently expected to commence mid-2026 following the delivery of the trains and staff training”.
The company said the agreement with Eversholt Rail is for five Class 222 diesel trains, each with a capacity for about 340 standard-class seats. It expects the services will achieve annual sales of about £50 million and a “low double-digit” operating profit margin.
Lumo runs on a separate open access basis, meaning it sets its own fares, takes on all revenue risk and receives no taxpayer-funded subsidies. In January, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wrote to ORR chairman Declan Collier expressing concerns that the open access model can cause “potential congestion” and result in taxpayers being “left to fill shortfalls” in maintenance costs.
FirstGroup chief executive Graham Sutherland said: “The mobilisation of our new service between London and Stirling is another important step towards rolling out Lumo as a nationwide operator and growing our open access capacity, a key priority for the group.
“Our investment and capabilities in open access rail have delivered reliable, value-for-money services, grown rail demand and helped to spur economic growth and connect communities. We look forward to doing the same on our new services.”
