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All hail King Charles and all aboard the Carolean Express, the new high-speed service between London and Edinburgh that will start running on Coronation Day.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) has announced that its daily 11am service between King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley will now be known as the Carolean Express, with the very first train departing on Saturday May 6, the minute the coronation begins at Westminster Abbey.
LNER’s announcement follows a tradition of naming trains and services to mark important royal occasions. Previous names have included the Silver Jubilee train which marked the 1935 Jubilee for George V; the Coronation Train, a two-tone blue model for George VI’s coronation in 1937; and the Elizabethan for the coronation of Elizabeth II.
The name, the Carolean Express, was chosen as British history under King Charles’s reign will be known as the Carolean era.
David Horne, managing director at LNER, said it was delighted to be continuing the tradition of marking royal events in its fleet.
‘We know that our customers like to hear about our named services and fleet and we’re sure this new addition will prove popular,’ Horne said. ‘In our 100-year history we’ve had services to celebrate important occasions in royal history and we are proud to mark the reign of King Charles III.’
While the Carolean Express will be departing Kings Cross on time on Coronation Day, there are concerns that many other trains and services may face delays over the coronation weekend getting to big coronation events, especially around Windsor and London.
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