Alliance Rail

GNER to Introduce new calls at Stevenage into its high speed ‘Pendolino’ rail services to Edinburgh from December 2016

date 25 July 2014   source Alliance Rail   type Press release

Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) has announced that following representations from Stevenage Borough Council, it is proposing to call a number of early morning Edinburgh services at Stevenage, with a corresponding number of calls in the return direction from Edinburgh in the late afternoon/evening.

GNER Managing Director Ian Yeowart stated: “Stevenage councillors have been disappointed by the loss of a direct franchised train service from the town to the north of England and Scotland in 2011, and have since been exploring opportunities to reinstate this important transport link. They approached GNER and we have had positive discussions about the advantages of using Stevenage as a major calling point in some early northbound services”.

Following succesful discussions between the parties, GNER has sought a change to its application for fast tilting ‘Pendolino’ services to now call at Stevenage, with two morning departures going north, and three afternoon/evening services returning south. Following a short industry consultation period, an amendment to the full GNER application for Edinburgh will be submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

With both Luton and Stansted airports within easy reach, a call at Stevenage continues to focus on the potential for significant modal shift from air to generate new traffic for rail.

Railnews Archive ::: 2014-07-25 ALL-001

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