‘Ryanair of trains’ launches new London to Scotland route — with tickets from £33

Thanks to budget-friendly rail company, Lumo, getting from London to Glasgow has never been cheaper.

The all-electric travel firm has just commenced its long-awaited new service running between England and Scotland, with fares as low as £33.10 each way.

Dubbed the ‘Ryanair of trains’, due to its cheaper tickets, baggage limits and lack of first class, Lumo has been taking passengers between Edinburgh and London since 2021, and is looking to expand further with a Euston to Stirling route scheduled to start May.

The latest service, which stops in Falkirk, Edinburgh, the North East of England on the East Coast Main Line, is hoped to bring more people to Glasgow for the July 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Its inaugural journey, which departed Queen Street station at 6.16pm yesterday and arrived into King’s Cross one minute early, was marked by on-board performances from Scottish entertainers Storm Electric Strings, Just The Brave and Connor Burns.

Prior to this launch, the only direct rail service between the two cities was via Avanti’s West Coast line, where an off-peak single ticket can set you back as much as £133 and peak times can jump to £208. On the contrary, Lumo fares are available from £33.10, or just £10.90 between Newcastle and Glasgow.

Richard Salkeld, head of communications and partnerships at Lumo, previously told Metro that the majority of its customers are travellers who want to get from London to Glasgow, or vice versa, but can’t afford extortionate rail prices.

‘Lumo is an open-access operator, which means we take full commercial risk for running the services. We don’t get government or public subsidiary — we take on the risk and have to be confident that we can make it work, all while complementing the existing services that already run.

‘Glasgow is somewhere we’re looking forward to serving, and we’re confident we can make it as successful as our London to Edinburgh route.’

How often does Lumo’s London King’s Cross to Glasgow Queen Street service run?

On weekdays, there will be two northbound services – departing at 12.14pm and 2.15pm – and one southbound – departing at 6.18pm – between London King’s Cross and Glasgow Queen Street.

On Sundays, there will be one in each direction, with the southbound scheduled to depart at 9.22am and the northbound at 4.13pm.

The Lumo website adds: ‘From January 2, we will also add two additional services on Sundays and an additional mid-week service northbound to Glasgow.’

The journey will take a little longer than Avanti’s 4 hours and 51 minutes as it takes a slightly different route through Edinburgh; according to Lumo’s timetable, you’re looking at between 5 and 6 hours.

But for budget travellers, the extra time on the train enjoying the views is likely worth it.

Stuart Jones, managing director of First Rail Open Access, said: ‘This is a landmark moment which will boost connectivity between Scotland and England, offering a sustainable travel option whilst also boosting economic growth. 

‘It was a particular pleasure to celebrate the launch of our inaugural services in style with a brilliant range of guests from our dedicated team, as well as our partners from Scotland and across the border. We’re proud to champion Scotland and look forward to providing the unique Lumo service to even more customers from this week.’

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