Highland Chieftain

Stations with limited service shown smaller

The Highland Chieftain is one of the four named passenger trains operated by National Express East Coast (NXEC) on the UK National Rail network. NXEC runs one train a day each way between London King's Cross and Inverness on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Both services are named the "Highland Chieftain" and are operated by diesel-powered InterCity 125 High Speed Trains (HST) as the route is not electrified north of Edinburgh. Because of the limited number of stops between London and Edinburgh this service has the one of the fastest journey times between the two cities, just two minutes longer than the comparable time with the Flying Scotsman

The route is one of the longest in Britain at 581 miles and the train takes just over 8 hours (7hr 55min Southbound, 8hr 08 min Northbound. The increased time for the northbound journey is to allow for conflicting movements on the single line sections north of Perth) to cover the journey. Longer routes include the Caledonian Sleeper and a CrossCountry service from Penzance to Dundee, which covers 705 miles.

NXEC's three other named services are the Hull Executive, The Northern Lights and, probably the most well-known, the Flying Scotsman.

External links

* [http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/ NXEC website]
* [http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ National Rail Enquires website] - main web portal for UK train fares, times and other travel information