Stirling-London train tickets for fewer pounds? Anglo-Scottish rail rivalry to start in spring 2026
Rail passengers between London and central Scotland will get new direct services from spring 2026.
Lumo, part of FirstGroup, plans to run five trains a day between London Euston and Stirling, stopping at 10 English and Scottish stations along the way.
The new 'open access' service will compete with Avanti West Coast as well as other operators including TransPennine Express and LNER – both of which are publicly owned.
Experience on the East Coast main line, where Lumo competes with LNER between London and Edinburgh, suggests fares will fall and some airline passengers will switch to rail as the market expands.
At present Stirling has only two direct daily trains serving London: one by day on LNER, and another by night with Caledonian Sleeper.
The new Lumo service will also call at the Scottish stations of Larbert, Greenfaulds (serving Cumbernauld), Whifflet (serving Coatbridge), Motherwell and Lockerbie en route to England. The company says that the first three have never had direct trains to and from London.
Carlisle, Preston, Crewe, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central are the English station calls.
Open access trains between Stirling and London – offering fresh journey possibilities and bringing competition to existing operators – were first proposed six years ago by an organisation called Grand Union Trains. But the new service will be operated by FirstGroup and branded Lumo.
The Office for Rail and Road gave the project the go-ahead in March 2024. Announcing approval for the plan, the ORR's strategy director, Stephanie Tobyn, said: 'Our decision helps increase services for passengers and boost competition on Britain's railway network.
'By providing more trains serving new destinations, open access operators offer passengers more choice in the origin and price of their journey leading to better outcomes for rail users.'
It will be the first time that the incumbent long-distance operator, Avanti West Coast, has faced open access competition.
Even though the route is electrified, initially diesel-powered six-car trains will be deployed, using rolling stock previously operated by East Midlands Railway.
Revealing details of the new link, Lumo's managing director, Martijn Gilbert, said: 'Today's announcement underscores Lumo's commitment to growing Scotland's rail network, providing passengers with more affordable, fast, and convenient travel options.
'Our new service between Stirling and London has the potential to unlock significant economic opportunities for communities along the route, and we're proud to deliver this direct rail connectivity to towns previously overlooked by traditional rail services.
'We are focused on further expanding our services in Scotland to ensure even greater connectivity across the country and the whole UK.'
Besides serving passengers living or working on the line of route, the new link will increase journey possibilities to and from Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness, connecting with ScotRail services at Stirling.
The portion of the journey linking London with Crewe, Preston and Carlisle could lead to lower fares on these core Avanti West Coast routes.
Avanti West Coast is a joint venture between FirstGroup – owner of Lumo – and Trenitalia. The train operator will be nationalised within the next year or two as part of the UK government's programme of bringing most rail firms into public ownership.
Speaking in May, ahead of nationalising South Western Railway, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: 'I'm clear that there is a role for open access operators going forward . But we need to make sure that the open access operators coexist with the public sector operator in a way which maximises benefit and value to the travelling public.'
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