New trains to offer London to Edinburgh tickets from £15

London to Edinburgh train tickets are being sold for as low as £15 under a new single class train which aims to emulate cheap airlines on Britain's railways.

The new train company call Lumo - which is run by transport firm FirstGroup - will begin journeys from October 25.

The four and a half hour journey will stop at Newcastle and the Northumberland town of Morpeth en route – with some trains calling at Stevenage.

Single tickets will start from £14.90 and the company claims 60% of all fares will be less than £30.

Currently, a customer would struggle to get a ticker from London to Edinburgh for under £50.

At first the new trains will not accept railcard discounts but they say this may change.

The company says the new trains are 100% electric and will significantly cut carbon emissions, especially when compared to flights between the two capitals.

More than 74,500 passengers currently fly between Edinburgh and London each month.

There will be two trains a day at first with their frequency increasing over time to a maximum of 10 services per day by early next year.

Helen Wylde, Managing Director for Lumo, said: "Travelling in the UK should not cost a fortune and it certainly shouldn’t be the planet that pays.

"Whatever your preferred mode of transport, we are likely to be more affordable and kinder to the planet.

"We believe everyone has the right to travel in style. We are empowering people to make green travel choices that are genuinely affordable without compromising on comfort.”

Unusually among trains in the UK the Lumo trains will have just one class.

Lumo intends to publish its carbon emissions data on a regular basis to feed its carbon calculator, which allows passengers to calculate the carbon impact of their Lumo journey and compare it with other ways to travel.

In addition, over 50% of the on-board catering menu is plant-based.

First Group says the new service is expected to carry more than one million passengers a year once it is established, with Lumo predicted to contribute £250 million to the economy over 10 years.