Azuma begins operating The Highland Chieftain as HST withdrawals continue

London North Eastern Railway has announced that new Azuma trains have arrived on its Highland Chieftain route between Inverness and London King's Cross.

Inverness is the latest destination to benefit from the arrival of the Azuma trains.

The train operator runs The Highland Chieftain service in both directions every day between Inverness and London King's Cross. The inaugural northbound Azuma service arrived on Monday evening and the first southbound Azuma will departed this morning at 07:55.

LNER is replacing all 45 of the existing trains in its fleet with 65 new Azuma trains, which will be completed by June 2020.

What did the officials say?

David Horne, Managing Director of LNER, said:

“As our northern-most destination we are proud to be introducing our revolutionary Azuma services on this key route connecting Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands, with Edinburgh and London.

“Renowned for their magnificent mountains, mysterious lochs and ancient castles, the Scottish Highlands are famous throughout the world for their rich history and proud traditions and what better way to travel there in style and speed than on our Highland Chieftain service with our Azuma trains.”