A NEW cheap rail service from London to Edinburgh is set to launch on 25 October, with a one way fare costing as little as £14.90.

Lumo is a new train operator offering this journey and taking on the state-owned LNER in the process.

It’ll be using the East Coast main line and offering tickets priced below £15 in most cases for about 400 miles of travel.

From 25 October it will offer two trips a day between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverly, but they plan to increase that to five once more trains are delivered.

The journey will take approximately four and a half hours, stopping off at Newcastle and the Northumberland town of Morpeth en route.

Some trains will also call at Stevenage in Hertfordshire.

Lumo is backed by First Group, a multinational transport enterprise based in Aberdeen.

Supposedly their name is a combination of the words ‘illumination’ and ‘motion’.

Speaking to the Independent, the company said: “We take our passengers’ wellbeing extremely seriously and want everyone to arrive refreshed and ready.

“We aim to reimagine what it means to travel by rail and Lumo brings that together in one word.”

What will the average cost of a Lumo train be?

From launch to 1 December, Lumo train journeys will cost £19,90 or less as long as it is booked a day before travel.

In the future, Lumo would like around 60 per cent of their single fares to cost £30 or less.

For those with a Railcard it will not apply on their line at first, but that may change going forward.

How does the cost of LNER compare?

LNER at the moment has two trains between London and Edinburgh per hour, so will still dominate the line.

However, their cost is around £50 a ticket, which can be reduced to £33 with a railcard.

The unique angle that Lumo have to their business though is trying to attract people who would otherwise fly between the capitals of England and Scotland.

British Airways and easyJet currently run around 20 flights each day to various London airports, with that costing between £27 and £47 per passenger.

This aim is in place to try and make a positive impact on the environment.

Helen Wylde, Lumo’s managing director, spoke to the Independent, and said: “Travelling in the UK should not cost a fortune and it certainly shouldn’t be the planet that pays.

“We are empowering people to make green travel choices that are genuinely affordable without compromising on comfort.”

First Group have the goal of Lumo carrying more than one million passengers a year once it has got going, and it is predicted to contribute £250 million to the economy over the next ten years.