Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Maiden voyage for Azuma ‘bullet’-style trains in the north-east

The first of a new fleet of trains inspired by the famous high-speed “bullet” models used in Japan has made its maiden voyage between Aberdeen and London.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) ran the first trip between the cities at 7.52am this morning.

The modern Azuma train, built by Hitachi in Japan and based on the famous bullet trains that are used in the country, made stops at Stonehaven, Montrose, Arbroath and Edinburgh en route to King’s Cross station in London.

The train, which is capable of reaching 125mph, completed the journey in just under seven hours.

LNER will replace all 45 trains in its existing diesel fleet, some of which have operated from Aberdeen for 40 years, with 65 new Azuma models by next summer.

David Horne, managing director of LNER, said: “As one of our most popular routes, and Aberdeen being Scotland’s third largest city, we’re proud to be introducing our new Azuma trains connecting Aberdeen with Edinburgh and London.

“We’re also pleased to be able to respond to customer feedback by increasing the space available for luggage on board our longer distance services – where customers typically travel with more luggage.”

David Horne

The new trains will boast features such as ergonomically designed seats and extra legroom and plug sockets for each seat.

Aberdeen’s services will be painted in tartan as a homage to Scotland, and will incorporate colours that represent the east coast route.

The new models also feature the latest technology, meaning they are more resilient and better for the environment.

The Azuma trains are part of the UK government’s £5.7 billion Intercity Express programme.

The Scottish Government has previously said that the new fleet of trains would make train travel a more attractive option in the north and east of Scotland.