LNER Azuma (UK)

Step on board Britain's newest long-distance trains - so new in fact that ShowMeTheJourney has yet to travel by them, though the aim is to rectify that very soon.
Though SMTJ has travelled on their cousins, the Intercity Express trains, which operated by Great Western Railway.

The operator LNER is understandably keen to showcase the experience of travelling by these Azuma trains on its website.
When looking up a journey on the LNER website, you can see which departures will be by these new Azuma trains.

These Azuma trains either have five or nine coaches, though on some departures two five coach trains are joined together to make a 10 car train.
Here are the seating plans for both types of train.

LNER is now using these trains on most departures on the London <> Leeds route plus most departures on the London <> Edinburgh route.
All of the services which continue beyond Edinburgh to Aberdeen, Inverness and Stirling are now operated by Azuma trains
The London <> Hull service operated by LNER is also now an Azuma train.

Eight things that are good to know about travelling on an Azuma train:

(1) Complimentary Wi-Fi access is available throughout the train.

(2) Power sockets are available at all seats and USB sockets are also available at table seats in First Class.

(3) All First Class seats have tables, but in Standard Class there is a mix of tables and an airline-style seats - when booking tickets for Standard Class journeys on the LNER website, you can select table or airline seats as a preference.

(4) When buying tickets on the LNER website ShowMeTheJourney recommends checking the location of the seats you'll be assigned on the seating plan you'll be able to access during the booking process
You can check if you have been offered a forward facing seat - and if you’ll be travelling with luggage, you can also check how near you will be to the luggage racks.
If you want to, you can then select alternative seat(s) on the seating plan.

(5) Though something you won’t be able to confirm on the seating plan is whether the seat(s) you have been assigned will have a good view – not all of the seats in both First and Standard Class line up with the windows.

(6) An at-seat catering service is provided in both First Class and Standard Class (second class)

(7 The luggage allowance is three pieces of luggage per person, but another positive of the Azuma trains is that they have more space to store luggage than the trains they have replaced.

(8) Up to two dogs can travel for free with an individual or group of travellers.

At King’s Cross and the stations in Edinburgh, Hull and Leeds where these Azuma trains commence their journeys, the number of the platform (track) that a specific departure will be leaving from, normally appears on the information screens 10 -15 minutes prior to departure.

This will signal the start of a race to board the train, but if you don’t have luggage, and do have a reservation, you can take your time as your seat(s) will be waiting for you to occupy them.

If you will be boarding at a station the train calls at during a journey, there are now usually signs on the platform (track) which will show you where to wait for speedy boarding into each coach/carriage.

Don’t just check the coach/carriage numbers by the doors, also check the seat number info that’s on the outside of the train.
All coaches will have two doors, one at each end and the other door may be nearer to your seat.

Also worth knowing:

Worth knowing is that you don’t have to occupy the seat you have been assigned, for your travel ticket to be valid; the train conductor will check the ticket, but not the reservation.

So if for any reason you want to travel in a different seat, you can do so, as long as you check that the alternative seat(s) you want to move to hasn't been reserved, so will be available for your journey.
As you enter the coach/carriage check to see what other seats are free, which is comparatively easy to do thanks to the seat-sensor devices that LNER has installed above each set of seats.

If you don’t have heavy luggage, after departure it can be worth having a walk through the train, to see what seats are available in other coaches.
It’s not unknown for some of the coaches on the train to relatively busy, while others will be comparatively empty.

On the main information screens at the larger stations, at the foot of the information for each train departure (below its list of calling points), you should be able to see something which resembles a table/chart.
This info will show which of the coaches on the train will be busy, because most of the seats in them have been reserved, and which will be comparatively empty.

So if you don’t have a reservation, you can identify which coaches are likely to have the most seats available and head for them when boarding.

Then when you're in the seating saloon look for the green lights on the strip above the windows, a green light indicates that either some or all of the seats in that row haven't been reserved, so are available.

These trains have both wheelchair spaces and seats with additional leg-room, but even if you don’t require these specific services, the LNER assisted travel team can help with planning a journey and booking tickets.

Bike rack storage spaces are available for non-folding bicycles - more info is available here.

Spaces for non-folding bikes must be reserved ahead of travel, but these bike spaces can’t be booked online, instead you can call the LNER support team on 03457 225 111.
ShowMeTheJourney recommends booking your bike space and travel tickets on the same call.