On 31st July LNER held a special event at Waverley Station to showcase the new Azuma trains that will be running from Scotland to London. Paul Tetlaw from CRAG was lucky enough to be one of those invited.
After a speech by M.D. David Horne there was some musical entertainment followed by a return trip to Berwick.
Those present seemed most impressed by the new train. The 9 coach Azuma has 510 standard class seats and 101 first class. The first scheduled Scottish departure was the 05.40 train from Edinburgh on 1 August which arrived in Kings Cross in 3 hrs and 58 minutes.
The trains will gradually be introduced to the Scottish services over the coming months. It will however be 2021 before regular 4 hrs timings to London can be achieved as Network Rail still have work to complete on the infrastructure.
