A record level of high-speed rail services between London and Edinburgh will be run by York-based GNER by the summer.

From May 28 new trains will run between London and York, including nine services provided by leased Eurostar trains, built to run on international routes.

And longer-term plans involve the investment of £1.2 billion and a fleet of 140mph tilting trains offering substantially reduced journey times between London and York, and beyond to Scotland, although this will depend on Government agreement on the transformation of services under a new 20-year franchise.

But the new summer timetable will see GNER running 125 trains a day, providing 25,000 extra seats a week to accommodate increasing passenger numbers.

Five new services will run each weekday from London King's Cross to York and there will also be a new morning service from Peterborough to York.

New high-speed trains will run from Selby to London and there will be extra trains to and from Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow, including more late night trains from London.

Since the beginning of its seven-year franchise in April 1996, when GNER was running 100 trains a day, passenger numbers have grown by 22 per cent to nearly 15 million a year.

Chief Executive Christopher Garnett said: "Running more trains every day means that we can provide more seats to cope with growing passenger numbers.

"In the long term even more trains will be needed to meet future demand and to encourage more people to choose rail for long distance journeys."

Among other highlights from an improved summer timetable is a new later weekday service from London to York - a Leeds-bound train leaving at 23.23 and connecting with a Doncaster to York service. At the moment the latest train from London to York leaves King's Cross at 2200.

And three new services will run from the capital to York and return on Sundays.

The summer timetable runs from May 28 to Sept 22. Full details are available from travel centres and the GNER Telecentre, telephone 08457 225225.

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