National Express adds extra Friday train to busy East Coast route

TRAIN operator National Express East Coast is to add an extra Friday evening train service to its East Coast route linking London with Yorkshire and the North East.

The additional train is being launched on Friday (18 January 2008) and will leave London King’s Cross at 7.27 pm, calling at York (9.12 pm), Darlington (9.53 pm) and Durham (10.12 pm) before arriving in Newcastle at 10.30 pm.

National Express East Coast managing director David Franks said: “We’re delighted to be able to provide this additional Friday evening train service, which will help to create more space on the preceding 7pm northbound train from London.

“At National Express we plan to attract many more passengers to the East Coast Main Line, with extra services reaching out to new destinations, including a brand new direct service to Lincoln from 2010.”

The new Friday evening train from London to Newcastle brings the total number of weekday services operated by National Express East Coast to 137. It adds a minimum of 530 additional seats to the route.

National Express East Coast began operating trains on the East Coast Main Line on 9 December 2007, with an explicit promise to passengers to “make travel simpler”.

From day one, it has provided free onboard WiFi internet access in Standard Class as well as First Class accommodation, while a joint improvement plan agreed with Network Rail is set to improve train timekeeping.

The new National Express East Coast website, www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com, is also attracting praise for its simplicity and clarity, including a five-star review from Web User magazine and a ‘site of the week’ accolade from New Media Age magazine.

ENDS.