Britain's ‘Ryanair of the rails' may not be glamorous, but it could teach rivals a thing or two
The British train operator which has garnered a reputation as the 'Ryanair of the Rails' does indeed have, it seems, a lot in common with the budget airline that so many passengers love to hate.
Lumo, which just under four years ago launched its inaugural service between London and Edinburgh, does indeed have consistently lower fares than the main operator on the route, LNER.
It has ambitious plans for growth, too. Having increased services to Edinburgh from two trains a day to five, it recently announced the intention to introduce a new direct link between London and the Scottish city of Stirling, with a further expansion of routes down the line.
And like the Dublin-based low-cost airline, its no nonsense one-size-fits-all approach has its detractors, with reviews on platforms such as TrustPilot frequently highlighting issues with cleanliness, punctuality, inadequate provision of refreshment and staff whose brusque manner seems to have come straight from the Michael O'Leary's customer relations playbook.
Much of this is hardly surprising. When Lumo began services between London and Edinburgh in October 2021, it unashamedly proclaimed its intention to undercut rivals on the route and to provide real competition to the budget airlines – namely Ryanair and easyJet – which operated between the two cities.
In addition to low prices (many of its introductory fares are less than £20 one-way), it gave travellers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint a more environmentally friendly option, with a fleet of all-electric Hitachi trains offering high speeds and low emissions.
Potential game changer
Mark Smith, the rail guru behind the Man in Seat 61 website, hailed the arrival of Lumo – which was given permission to run the London-Edinburgh route as an 'open access' operator – as a potential game changer.
'For years the high cost of rail travel has been cited by those turning to the cheaper options offered by airlines, but the arrival of Lumo could change all that,' he said.
'Finally a London-Edinburgh train will take on the likes of easyJet and Ryanair at their own game. It is a pioneering move and, if successful, it could encourage others to set up low-cost rail routes and put pressure on the government-backed train operators to reduce fares.'
So has Lumo lived up to its early promise? And what's it like to travel on?
Reading the TrustPilot reviews, I feared the worst when I boarded the train for a journey to Edinburgh with my wife – a decision taken because, yes, I wanted to test Lumo out but, crucially, because it was considerably cheaper than LNER.
The train was certainly busy, with all seats taken and every available space for luggage used to the full.
The seats themselves, an attractive deep blue, may not have allowed long leg stretches, but were comfortable enough – and not dissimilar space-wise to those found on more mainstream operators.
The drop-down table and individualised lighting were perfectly functional; there was WiFi too, but as with many trains, it was intermittent.
We did not feel the train was dirty, though others have pointed to mess on the floor and stained seats. Nor did we experience the rudeness for which Lumo staff have frequently been criticised (in fact, we even managed a joke with the ticket inspector).
And of course the views along the way – particularly the later stretches, taking in the Angel of the North, Durham Cathedral and the beautiful stretch of Northumberland coastline on the approach to Scotland – were, of course, every bit as splendid as they would have been on a more expensive train.
We arrived in Edinburgh bang on time. No complaints.
Unacceptably dirty
Maybe we were lucky. Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel, also recently travelled with Lumo and had more grounds for complaint. On his trip to Edinburgh, he found the train unacceptably dirty, announcements bordering on the hostile, staff manhandling bags placed in the wrong places and, most egregiously, a failure in the tea service, usually available via an on-board trolley.
He did acknowledge, however, that Lumo's fares, while not as low as originally indicated, were less than those quoted by LNER. The cheapest fare he found was £91 return – a good £44 less than the lowest offered by LNER for the same period. With very few stops (Morpeth, Newcastle and, on some journeys, Stevenage), the trains are also faster: the best completing the journey to Edinburgh in just 4 hours 16 minutes.
And the Ryanair parallels continue: though passengers love to complain about Lumo, they nevertheless continue to use the service in their droves.
So much so, in fact, that the operator – which is owned by FirstGroup – announced earlier this month that it plans to launch a new direct service between London and Stirling, commencing next year. Furthermore, in what will be a significant challenge to an increasingly nationalised rail network, it has applications to run trains from London to Rochdale, Carmarthen and Paignton. The aim is to triple passenger numbers to 10 million a year.
According to Simon Hodge, managing director of specialist operator Tailor Made Rail, this is all for the good, as it might help to create some 'healthy competition' on the proposed routes – as operators Italo and Iryo have in Italy and Spain respectively – which would likely reduce fares and benefit passengers.
In fact, even Boland had a positive take, concluding that though 'the boarding experience with so many people and luggage being thrown around is chaotic, and dirty seats and no tea made our trip feel budget', Lumo is nevertheless 'fast, far better for the environment than flying and, perhaps crucially, by far the cheapest option.'
So, lower fares and, soon, a direct service from London to one of Scotland's finest cities?
Lumo might feel budget, but if the rise of the budget airline has proved anything, it's that – for most of us – cost and convenience will always trump comfort. A bit of healthy competition never hurts.
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