London-Edinburgh for under £10: budget train link will give railcard discounts

The new cut-price rail link between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh will deliver even better value than expected to the UK’s millions of railcard holders.

It was initially believed that the usual 34 per cent discount would not be offered to passengers on the Lumo service, which launches on the East Coast main line on 25 October.

But most railcards will yield the fare cut – resulting in one-way fares below £10 for travellers who grab one of the opening tranche of lowest-price tickets. These one-way journeys are selling for £14.90, but that cost comes down to £9.80 for railcard holders.

During the opening phase of the service – between Lumo’s launch on 25 October and 1 December – railcard holders need not pay more than £13.10, so long as they book at least a day before departure.

The fare cut applies to 16-25, 26-30, Disabled Persons, Family & Friends, Two Together and Senior railcards.

Each railcard costs £30 for a year, except the card for disabled travellers – which is £20.

But the Lumo discount does not apply to holders of the Veterans Railcard.

The company says: “We’re sorry but for now you can’t use these with Lumo tickets, although we’re looking into changing that in the future.”

Lumo is competing directly with the state-owned train operator, LNER. Because Lumo is linked to the national ticketing and fares system, its giant rival must include the newcomer’s pricing in response to an online search.

A test booking for the morning of 10 November on the LNER site shows non-discounted advance fares on its own trains generally at £44 one way, while the Lumo service is £19.90.

A Super Off-Peak single on LNER, available without pre-booking, is £79.20, compared with £69 on Lumo. But LNER has a much wider range of available trains.

Initially, Lumo will operate just twice daily in each direction, compared with 25 services each way on LNER.