London to Newcastle by train

How to take the rail journey from London to Newcasle

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Routes

From London King's Cross to Newcastle

Travel Information

Final Destination:

Newcastle, Edinburgh - Azuma and Intercity 225 trains
Aberdeen, Inverness or Stirling - Azuma trains

All trains also call at: York and [Darlington]

On the usual timtable, the departures at 00 minutes past the hour are faster than the trains, which leave at 30 minutes past the hour, because they make fewer station calls.

Some trains also call at: Durham

The London to Newcastle service by LNER trains has been transformed, because after 41 years of service, the InterCity 125 trains have ceased operating on the East Coast main line!

They have been replaced by the brand new Azuma trains on the majority of departures to Newcastle - when you look up a journey on the LNER website it shows whether an Azuma or an InterCity 225 train will be used on a departure.

Monday-Friday = 31 x trains per day
Saturday = 30 x trains
Sunday = 31 x trains

Between 07:00 and 20:00 on Mon - Sat, and between 09:00 and 21:00 on Sunday there is a minimum of two departures per hour.

The departures at 00 minutes past the hour are faster than the trains, which leave at 30 minutes past the hour, because they make fewer station calls.

At weekends maintenance work on the railway line can cause trains to be diverted on to longer routes.

Tickets

If you want to travel at the cheapest possible price, look for the 'Advance tickets', though the two key things worth knowing about booking and using 'Advance' tickets are:
(1) This type of ticket can't be refunded if you subsequently change your travel plans, or miss the train in circumstances not to do with a connecting train.
(2) A £10 admin fee will be payable if you want to exchange your ticket to a different departure to the same destination, to that which you selected when making your booking PLUS you will ALSO be charged any price difference with the new ticket you'll then have to purchase.

On the least busy Monday to Friday departures 'Super Off-Peak; tickets are usually available, they'll be more expensive than Advance tickets, but will give you greater flexibility with your travel-plans.
You will only have to pay any price difference with the new ticket - if you swap them to a different departure more than  24 hours ahead, there will usually be no difference in price to pay.
They can also be refunded for an admin fee of £10.

More general information is available on this guide to buying train tickets for train journeys in Great Britain.

Travelling on Monday - Friday:

Tickets are usually available 12 weeks ahead of the travel date.

However, when you look up a journey you may see dates further ahead on the calendar, but you'll be informed that tickets aren't yet available for those dates.
On the LNER website you'll be prompted to sign up to a Ticket Alert service, on a PC, over on the right on the screen you'll be taken to, you'll see the furthest date ahead that tickets can be booked for.

Travelling on Saturday-Sunday

Tickets are usually available 12 weeks ahead of the travel date, but maintenance work on the route is periodically undertaken at weekends and if it is scheduled on your travel date, it can affect when tickets will be released for sale.

If you're looking up a journey less than 12 weeks ahead and tickets aren't available, it can be a good indication that works will be impacting on your travel date.
It can be worth checking this on the National Rail website - enter LNER as the operator.

Making an end-to-end journey will still be possible, so it can be worth signing up to LNER's ticket alert service, though you MAY ultimately have to take a substitution bus service for part of the trip.
It's the confirmation of these alternative travel arrangements which can hold up the release of the tickets for sale.

Choosing a departure

There can be significant differences in prices between departures on your travel date, it's possible to save more than £30 by taking an earlier or later train.
The LNER website makes it clear what the cheapest price is available per day.

When heading north, the trains which depart London in the middle of the day tend to be cheaper.

Reservations (pre-pandemic):

When you book an Advance ticket for a London to Newcastle train journey, you will be automatically assigned a seat(s), but if you book the other types of ticket ahead, you can request a complimentary reservation - more info on this
Tickets can now be booked online up to a couple of hours prior to departure

However, if you buy Off Peak or Anytime tickets just prior to boarding at the station, a seat reservation WON'T be automatically included with your booking.

That's because reservations at stations need to be booked by the end of the previous day for morning departures and around two hours ahead for afternoon/evening departures - so also keep that in mind if you will be using a rail pass, including a Britrail or Eurail pass.

Receiving Your Ticket(s)

If you book with LNER the four options for receiving your ticket(s) are:

(1) You will receive a booking reference number on your order confirmation email and you can use this reference number to collect ticket(s) from a ticket machine.
Some stations will have dedicated ticket collection machines, but standard ticket machines will also have an option for collecting pre-booked tickets.

You will need to enter your reference number into the machine, so make sure you'll have easy access to it when you are using the machine.

You will also need to insert the specific credit or debit card you used when making the booking, so have that with you too.

Showing the email you have received to staff at the ticket gates won't get you on to the train, nor will this be valid if you can only show the email to the conductor when you are on the train.

If you forget to bring your ticket(s) with you to the station, but do have the card with you that you used when booking, you can use the machines to collect your ticket(s).

Take your time and take care that you have picked up all your ticket(s) and seat reservations.

(2) Print off the tickets you receive before heading to the station - the instructions for doing this are available here.

(3) Opt to pay an additional charge to have your tickets posted to you - not available when booking tickets from outside the UK.

(4) Mobile tickets - if you select this option when making a booking you will need to download the LNER Travel Buddy app so that you can 'Activate' your ticket.

The LNER website states that 'Advance' tickets will be automatically activated, but there's no suggestion on the LNER website that it will be OK to save the ticket(s) you will receive as a PDF to your mobile device.
So download the app to be sure that you can use a mobile ticket.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
LNER from £34

LNER Guide

LNER offers a couple of services which offer additional benefits to how tickets are usually sold for long-distance journeys:
They are:

  • a https://www.lner.co.uk/tickets-savings/your-ticket/price-promise/ service, which enables its customers to claim refunds for the differences in price between LNER and other booking agents for journeys by LNER trains.
  • LNER Perks is a useful service for those who regularly travel by LNER trains.
  • Seatfrog is a service by which those who have book Standard Class tickets can 'bid' to upgrade to First Class seats.
    In effect you can set the additional price you will be willing to pay to travel in First Class and if your price matches the winning bid, you'll be able to upgrade.
National Rail from £34

National Rail Guide

In Great Britain each Train Operating Company provides its own booking service for journeys by its trains, but many of their websites also sell tickets for nationwide journeys, regardless of which company operates the trains on the routes you wish to travel by.

The National Rail website is plugged into all of the train operator's booking services, so when more than one of these companies offers tickets for a route, it in effect offers a price comparison service.
It isn't a ticket agent, so you will be connected to the website of your choice in order to make a booking.

On this journey

Good to Know

This is one of the world's fastest train journeys that doesn't involve travelling on a dedicated high speed line, for large parts of the trip the train will be travelling at around 200 km/h (125 mph).

Durham's majestic cathedral and castle can be seen on the right Durham's majestic cathedral and castle can be seen on the right
Crossing the River Tyne at journey's end Crossing the River Tyne at journey's end

For the first 20 -25 minutes the train is travelling through the London suburbs and the commuter towns which surround it - though look out for the view from Welwyn Viaduct around 17 minutes into the journey

And then for the most of the remainder of the journey there are pleasant, but unspectacular views of the countryside from both sides of the train, across a mainly flat landscape.

So this is a train ride on which can be a good idea to have something to read or watch with you.

Though the other highlights of this train ride come towards the end of a train journey from London to Newcastle.
Around 15 mins after the train has departed Darlington, look out on the right for the majestic views over Durham.
It can also be worth lingering in your seat(s) until the train has pulled into Newcastle station, in order to see the fabulous view of the bridges over the Tyne.

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