TRAIN bosses say more trains will run from York to London within five years, but more trains will also pass through York without stopping.

Half a dozen trains a day from Newcastle to London each day without stopping under a new franchise deal, it has emerged.

But the consortium which has won the franchise to operate railway services on the East Coast Mainline says York passengers will still see a big increase in trains to the capital.

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach and Virgin said its ‘exciting’ new timetable, which will be fully launched in May 2020, will see extra trains and faster journey times for customers at key destinations including York and Newcastle.

She said six daily direct services will run non-stop from Newcastle to London from2020 but customers travelling southbound from York to London will also benefit with an extra 11 trains a day, a 31 per cent increase from the current situation.

“There are currently 36 trains a day heading north from London Kings Cross to York, with a fastest journey time of 1 hour 48 minutes,” she said.

“By May 2020, this will increase to 45 trains a day, representing a 25 per cent service increase.”

She said that for the majority of the day, three trains an hour will run to London and there will be faster journey times as well, ‘so people in York will see significant benefits from the roll out of the new timetable.’

She added that all customers travelling on Virgin Trains East Coast services between York and London will benefit from faster journey times with the introduction of new ‘IEP’ trains from 2018, with more than 25,000 extra seats provided every day across the network.

The success of the consortium in winning an eight-year franchise for the route was announced in November.

Rail Minister Claire Perry said the franchise was 'exciting news' for staff and passengers, with two really strong British companies delivering a transformation of services for passengers across the network, with new seats and new trains.

She said the service would be branded Virgin East Coast, even though Virgin had only a ten per cent stake in the consortium, because it had a strong brand image which was readily recognised by the public.