Staff at London North Eastern Railway (LNER) are preparing for the East Coast Main Line timetable changes, which will see the biggest increase in rail services in the last ten years.

Among the heroes that will keep the trains moving in the winter months are the maintenance staff at LNER’s train care facilities across its network, which reaches from London in the south to Aberdeen in the north.

Each day, thousands of passengers use LNER services, and each night, as most of the trains return to their respective depots, maintenance workers and fitters inspect the trains to ensure they are clean, available for service, and in good condition for the following day’s services.

With thousands of extra services timetabled to run on the ECML next year, Hitachi Rail engineers at Craigentinny, Doncaster, Bounds Green & Ferme Park depots have been working on ways to maximise the efficiency of maintenance and of the trains while working towards the timetable changes.

Extra services mean extra trains, which adds to extra mileage and wear to the LNER Azuma fleet.

To prepare for this issue, Bounds Green Depot has extended the wheel lathe to accommodate 9-car Azuma trains, enabling the wheels to be turned to the right profile for high-speed running.

The extension to the lathe, which previously had the capacity to hold 7-car MK3 sets, has been funded by the LNER and delivered by Hitachi. This will allow for quicker maintenance on the wheels of each of the 9-car Azuma trains, as the whole train will now be able to use the lathe in one go.

LNER has also invested in Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh, again with help from Hitachi. New roof inspection gantries have been installed, allowing for more trains to be inspected at once and saving on shunting movements around the depot.

LNER claims that the introduction of these new gantries can save a full day on a train’s maintenance exam. Previously, trains had to wait up to hours or more in a queuing system to be shunted to a certain part of the depot to enable roof inspections to be carried out.

All the depots have addressed and increased the efficiency of existing maintenance schedules, including the trains’ 30-day examination period. This will help keep maintenance schedules running smoothly and increase train availability.

“Huge timetable changes like the one coming up in December don’t just happen. We have been working more closely than ever with our colleagues at Hitachi Rail to make sure that our fleet of Azuma trains are maintained and ready for operation, preparing to carry thousands of customers to destinations across our almost thousand-mile route each day.

LNER and Hitachi Rail colleagues have been coming up with creative and innovative solutions to meet the extra services, committing additional funding for new equipment, and are continuing to develop new ways of working that will further enhance maintenance work and keep the availability of the fleet high.”

Linda Wain, Engineering Director at LNER

“Throughout 2025, it has been a real team effort supporting LNER’s preparations for its timetable change. We have worked tirelessly and collaboratively to upgrade both depots and maintenance operational arrangements, while simultaneously preparing our workforce to meet LNER’s requirements for train availability.”

Mark Frost, Fleet Director at Hitachi Rail