All customers must wear a face covering when travelling with LNER or on any other public transport in England from today. There are exemptions for children under 11 and those with a health reason or other reasonable excuse. The Scottish Government is advising that face coverings should be worn on public transport too.

Customers are encouraged to bring a face covering with them but, if they don’t have one, they are available for sale from our Travel Centres and vending machines. Supported by our communications, including across our stations, our people are focusing on engaging, explaining and encouraging, with the British Transport Police responsible for enforcement if necessary. However, we are confident that the vast majority of people will want to do the right thing and help protect others.

Reservation only trains – specific seat allocation from Wednesday

As you are aware, all of our trains are reservation only, to limit the numbers of customers onboard and support social distancing. At the moment, we are encouraging people to choose their own socially distanced seat once they board their service but, from Wednesday, the system will get much simpler for everyone.

From Wednesday, all reservations, whether secured at the time of ticket booking or afterwards with our online reservation tool, will include a specific, socially distanced seat. We will therefore be advising customers to follow the specific seat on their tickets and confirmation e-mails, which will also encourage customers to spread out on platforms. Households travelling in a group will continue to be permitted to sit together and should choose seats around one of their seat reservations. 

Those with an existing ticket without a seat reservation, such as season ticket, can use LNER’s online reservation tool to secure a reservation for their preferred service up to five minutes before departure. If their plans change, the tool can be used to make an additional reservation.

LNER Reserves going strong

As noted in our previous updates, many of our colleagues have been volunteering to support our local communities during this difficult time – as the LNER Reserves. This has included many of those not working during our temporary timetable and with our onboard catering paused.

To date, the LNER Reserves have clocked-up over 4,000 hours of volunteering, supporting 12,000 beneficiaries through foodbanks, anti-loneliness initiatives, the NHS, and many more groups in communities right along the LNER route.

As we introduce more services in the coming weeks, we will be continuing to support our colleagues in making a positive difference, both on and off our trains, as part of being a responsible business.

No services at King’s Cross station this weekend

Work on the East Coast Upgrade is continuing with Network Rail’s engineering teams requiring that there be no trains to or from King’s Cross Station on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June, so that new overhead line equipment can be installed.

While rail replacement services will be in place, anything you can do to share our do not travel to/from London message would be very much appreciated.

These works are part of £1.2billion upgrade which will enable more trains, thousands of extra seats and more reliable journeys between London, the north, and Scotland.