UK’s longest practice journey spanning 774-miles to be scrapped | UK | News | EUROtoday

The UK’s longest direct practice journey, which has been in operation for over 100 years, is being discontinued. CrossCountry, the operator of the Aberdeen to Penzance route, confirmed that the service might be cancelled as a part of a sequence of route modifications efficient from May 2025.

The 774-mile journey, which connects Scotland to the Cornish coast, presently takes roughly 13 hours and 20 minutes, with stops at 35 stations alongside the way in which. The service, first launched in 1921, departs from Aberdeen at 8.20am and travels south via cities resembling York, Bristol, Taunton, and Truro, showcasing a few of the UK’s most scenic landscapes. Travellers usually spend round two hours stationary as passengers board and disembark at every station, with the practice arriving in Penzance at 9.31pm.

CrossCountry revealed the timetable modifications for 2025 as a part of the rail community’s common schedule evaluations.

From May 18, the brand new timetable will come into impact, and the final direct Aberdeen to Penzance practice will depart on May 16. Tickets for the ultimate journey, with customary class singles beginning at £138.60, might be out there for buy.

Simon Calder, journey correspondent for The Independent, instructed the publication: “As an advocate for rail travel, it’s a touch sad that the longest direct train in the UK is being curtailed – but the number of people who actually travelled the 13-and-a-bit hours from northeast Scotland to southwest England was minuscule.”

He went on to say that whereas the lack of this service is regrettable, “the main line through Cornwall from Plymouth to Penzance will remain well served, and if the CrossCountry core is better served due to the redeployment of rolling stock and staff, that will be a net gain.”

The revised timetable will see the service run an 11-hour and 30-minute journey from Aberdeen, however now solely as far south as Plymouth, 80 miles shorter than the earlier route. Passengers may have the choice to attach with trains operating via Cornwall.

A CrossCountry spokesperson instructed The Independent: “Amending our Aberdeen to Penzance service from May 2025 will mean a more efficient timetable for our train crews and a more convenient service for our customers, making a day trip from Bristol and the west of England to Penzance more viable.”

They added: “The new timetable will also deliver an additional service in each direction between Glasgow and the North East of England towards Birmingham.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aberdeen to Penzance route had been shortened to terminate at Plymouth, with the total service solely reinstated in May 2023.

There are some operational challenges for the practice, with lengthy ready occasions at a number of stations alongside the way in which. As Mr Calder defined: “As an ‘express’ it’s severely challenged, partly because of the lengthy waits at a variety of stations alongside the way in which – together with 14 minutes at each Edinburgh Waverley and Bristol Temple Meads, and 7 minutes at every of Birmingham New Street and Exeter St Davids.”

He instructed that passengers in a rush may be higher off abandoning the direct practice at Haymarket, simply west of Edinburgh, and connecting via a number of different companies to succeed in Penzance by sundown.

With the top of the Aberdeen to Penzance route, the UK’s longest direct service will now be the Caledonian Sleeper’s in a single day practice from London Euston to Fort William, which takes roughly 12 hours and 45 minutes.