In preparation for pre-Christmas journeys, train operator Grand Central has doubled the number of carriages available to passengers on certain services.
Grand Central, along with other train operating companies, are expecting high demand from passengers looking to travel to visit others this Christmas.
A number of 10-carriage trains will be operated by Grand Central on the North-East route between Sunderland and Kings Cross.
Richard McClean, Grand Central Managing Director, said the move was in response to a ‘clear demand for more socially-distanced seating' in the week before Christmas.
He added: “People are understandably looking forward to getting home or visiting relatives while the national restrictions are eased over Christmas. We wanted to play our part and help people reunite with loved ones. Relaxing our on-board social distancing measures was not an option so we decided to double the seating capacity on some of our most popular services by doubling the number of carriages.
“This means we've now added an extra 93 seats for reservation within the added capacity. We will be extending our current reservation-only policy to the extra seating in order to ensure social distancing is maintained on board, so please reserve your seat as soon as possible.”
Passengers are reminded that Grand Central will not operate any services between December 25 and January 1, as Kings Cross station is closed for major engineering work between December 26 and 30
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And what about Harrogate and Scarborough. Could Grand Central introduce their new direct service and to continue with using the Class 180 Adelante DMUs. Since they scrapped the London Euston-Blackpool North service and were going to use the Class 90 Mk4 stocks. Which is a real shame.
It’s nice to see Grand Central back in service. Could they operate a new direct service to Scarborough from London Kings Cross. Or will LNER operate a new service to Scarborough with using the Class 800 Azuma Bi-mode units. If they are to expand more services next year.