THE first direct rail link from Skipton to London in over 20 years departs on Monday morning.

The much-applauded new service will enable Skiptonians to be whisked to the capital in under three hours, on one of Great North Eastern Railway's newly-refurbished high speed diesel trains.

Company chief executive Christopher Garnett said: "Business and tourism leaders have been pressing us for some time to run a service to link Skipton with London.

"We aim to meet these aspirations by providing a daily train service, and by working in partnership with local representatives we aim to ensure the service is well used."

Users can be in London by 10am, travelling on the 6.54 which calls at Keighley, Leeds, Wakefield, Retford and Newark before speeding on to the "big smoke".

The return train departs from Kings Cross at 5.50pm, arriving back at Skipton at 8.52.

Tim Calow, of the Aire Valley Rail Users' Group, told the Herald: "We are delighted to welcome this new service from Great North Eastern Railway.

"As well as new through services to and from London it will provide an extra early service for commuters into Leeds.

"We wish the train operator every success in this new venture."

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