Lumo’s brand new service between Stirling and London Euston is launching in just a matter of days, and the operator has invited RailAdvent for a trip onboard the 222/6.
222601 has the pleasure of operating the press preview train, which was 1M01 0850 Stirling to London Euston.
We caught the train from Preston and are doing a round trip to London Euston. Services from Stirling to London Euston will call at Larbert, Greenfaulds, Whifflet, Motherwell, Lockerbie, Carlisle, Preston (Lancs), Crewe, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central
We are in Coach B, which has new seating and a spruce up. The train has had new carpets installed, providing a lovely ambience.
Alstom has completed the new livery and work at their Widnes facility. We have noticed that the new WiFi is really good at max speed, though sadly, mobile data still took a real hit as soon as we entered the train.
Lumo says that it wanted to establish itself in the market first, hence why the operator has chosen Ex-East Midlands Railway Class 222s for the service, which are leased from Beacon Rail.
The operator plans to have Hitachi battery trains on the line as soon as possible, but the 222s provide the cheapest and quickest way to have services running for passengers.
222s for Lumo have an extra carriage on each trainset, meaning their number allocation has been changed to be a 222/6
The new service launches on the 25th May, and Lumo says that the first services are all but sold out, which is really good to hear.
Lumo is an open-access operator, not a franchise, so income is vital to the operator. Two ambassadors per train will check tickets, provide customer announcements, as well as take the refreshment trolley through the train.
Staff will be based at London Euston, Preston and Stirling, with a crew change taking place at Preston.
At the time of writing, we have done Preston to Nuneaton with a photo opportunity at Crewe, and the seats are really comfortable.
The seat backs aren’t too high, meaning the cabin feels airy, and it is really good to see USB Type C ports in the refurbished carriages (carriages with original seating have just a 3-pin socket).
We will update this article as the day goes on. If you have anything you would like to see, drop a comment below.
A big thank you to Lumo for inviting us to preview the service on this special day for the operator.
Responses
It’s nice to see Lumo operating a brand new London Euston-Stirling open access service. Using Class 222 Meridian DMUs that were cascaded from East Midlands Railway and replaced by the Class 810 Aurora IETs.