Lumo, the open-access rail operator, is set to launch a new direct service connecting Stirling and London Euston in Spring 2026, marking a significant expansion onto the West Coast Main Line. This new offering aims to restore a crucial rail link and introduce affordable travel options across several underserved communities.
The new route will feature four daily return services between Stirling and London, with an additional fifth return service operating between Preston and London. Stops along the route will include Milton Keynes, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds, and Larbert.
This re-establishes a direct rail connection for Stirling to the capital, a link that ceased in 2024. Notably, communities such as Whifflet, Greenfaulds, and Larbert will gain their first direct rail access to London through this service.
Headquartered in Newcastle, Lumo, a subsidiary of FirstGroup, is known for its low-cost fare model. Tickets for the new West Coast service will be available from £29.90 one way for the London-Stirling journey, targeting both business and leisure travellers. As an open-access operator, Lumo operates without government subsidy, relying entirely on passenger demand and requiring regulatory approval from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to ensure new passenger flows, operational capacity, and safety compliance.
The launch builds on Lumo’s established success on the East Coast Main Line, where its London to Edinburgh service commenced in October 2021. The company has demonstrated a notable impact on modal shift, contributing to rail overtaking air as the preferred travel option between London and Edinburgh.
By August 2022, rail accounted for 57% of journeys on this corridor, a significant increase from 35% in the pre-pandemic period of April-August 2019.
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Lumo has carried more than four million passengers on its East Coast operations by mid-2026, with some reports indicating it generated over six million new rail journeys by February 2025.
For the new West Coast service, Lumo will utilise five six-carriage Class 222 units, which are undergoing a £10 million refurbishment programme. This investment by Alstom’s modernisation facility in Widnes, in collaboration with Beacon Rail, will align the trains with Lumo’s single-class, low-cost offering and sustainability objectives. The operator has also invested in recruitment and training, establishing a new operating base in Preston and creating around 100 new jobs, including a cohort of apprentice drivers and customer experience ambassadors across the route.
Stuart Jones, Managing Director of First Rail Open Access, commented on the expansion: “We can’t wait to begin this new service in the coming months; we don’t think of Lumo as a service that runs through Scotland, we think of it as a service that belongs there.”
