A brand new train service has been given the green light by rail regulator, Office of Rail and Road (ORR), seeing London finally connect with a major Scottish city.

The approved application by Grade Union Trains will see four daily return services between London Euston and the city of Stirling starting in June 2025.

Along the journey, trains on the service will also call at Milton Keynes Central, Nuneaton, Crewe, Preston, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Motherwell, Whifflet, Greenfaulds and Larbert.

They will provide more competition for several operators such as LNER and Avanti West Coast.

New rail service to connect London with Stirling

The ORR said it found that the plan submitted by Grand Union Trains would increase choice for passengers and significantly increase direct journey options between London and both central and southern Scotland while making use of existing capacity on the network.

The regulator’s director of strategy, policy and reform Stephanie Tobyn said: “Our decision helps increase services for passengers and boost competition on Britain’s railway network.

“By providing more trains serving new destinations, open access operators offer passengers more choice in the origin and price of their journey, leading to better outcomes for rail users.”

The new London to Stirling service comes after December 2022 saw the ORR approve an application by Grand Union Trains to launch a new service between London Paddington and Carmarthen.

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The operator said it will announce a start date for this route once it receives likely delivery dates from train suppliers.

Grand Union Trains will run on an open-access basis, meaning it will receive no taxpayer-funded subsidies and take on all revenue risk.

Rail minister Hew Merriman said last month the open access system “goes from strength to strength” and he plans to “speed up” the application process and attract more operators by making unused timetable slots available.