What is Britain’s new longest direct train route?

Sometimes, a long train ride is just what you need. There’s something incredibly cathartic about watching the world rush past as you listen to sombre music in your headphones and pretend you’re the main character in a romcom. Sad news then, because the UK’s longest direct train route – running all the way from Penzance, AKA Land’s End, in Cornwall, to Aberdeen on Scotland – has been cancelled. That’s a solid 14 hours of train, axed. 

From May 2025, Cross Country will stop operating the 774-mile-long journey after 100 years of service. So what will be the UK’s longest direct train once this stops running?

Taking the reigns for the longest railway ride once we wave goodbye to the Penzance to Aberdeen line will be the Caledonian Sleeper, an overnight train that runs from London Euston to Fort William in Scotland. Taking approximately 12 hours and 10 minutes, the sleeper train traverses 500 miles and has only seven stops. 

Typically, travellers board the train in central London at around 9.15pm, before whizzing through the British countryside and into Scotland, where they arrive in time for a full Scottish breakfast. The train also passes through Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. The different tickets range from a standard seated coach to a double en-suite. Not too shabby. 

More train travel with Time Out

In case you missed it, soon Edinburgh’s trams and buses will have contactless ‘tap-on, tap-off’ payments. Plus, here’s why UK to Europe train fares could soon drop in price by 30 percent. And here’s everything we know about the new Eurostar competitor.