I will be traveling from Edinburgh to Inverness in early July. I am trying to determine which rail line I would like to travel. I plan on going first class. I believe LNER has a railcar dedicated to this service and the Scotrail may or may not? Also LNER only has one train going this route as opposed to Scotrail which has multiple. I have heard though that the LNER first class service is much better than that of Scotrail's. Thoughts and/or experiences with this topic?
Posted by
Lake District, England
5814 posts
The two services travel on the same route.
The LNER train has come from London, and leaves at 4.33pm arriving at just after 8pm. It will be a 9 or 10 car train.
This is the kind of menu you can expect in 1st class on that particular service- https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/lner2321-dish-3-oct-2023-lner-menu-6pp-598mm-x-200mm-print.pdf
(and you get to use the first class lounge beforehand at Waverley).
Other trains south of Edinburgh have a better menu than that. The only thing is that if lunch service has been busy further south it may be like an airline where menu choices become restricted.
In both classes that is usually the cheapest train of the day- typically £20 standard, £41 1st before railcard discounts. The extra £21 pays for just for the meal and the free alcohol, apart from the better seat and ambience.
On Scotrail you will get either a 2 or 4 car train. First Class is free non alcoholic drinks (hot or water) and a bit of shortbread, maybe a muffin as well if you are lucky. I have been really lucky before and had shortbread, muffin and a Tunnock's wafer. You can't even buy alcohol on Scotrail, and aren't allowed to consume your own, officially.
If you can live with the evening departure they are as different as chalk and cheese.
Posted by
SoCal
331 posts
Let me add that if I never travel via Scotrail again it will be a good thing. LNER is fine.