Work Starts at York Station to Create LNER's Latest Family Lounge
11/10/2024
Families travelling to and from York station to destinations up and down the East Coast Main Line will soon have a dedicated space designed to keep children entertained and parents and carers relaxed.
Families travelling to and from York station to destinations up and down the East Coast Main Line will soon have a dedicated space designed to keep children entertained and parents and carers relaxed.
This week, work has started to create a new LNER Family Lounge inside the station which will feature a children’s play area based on York’s historic walls, beach huts with tabletop games, wall games, soft flooring and crawl spaces, and specially commissioned murals focusing on York’s famous landmarks and the city through the ages.
There will be plenty of space for parents and carers to sit back and relax with sofas, wooden bench seating, and coffee tables, as well as a comfortable space for breastfeeding.
Work is due to be completed in December 2024, allowing families travelling for the Christmas break to be able to explore the new space before their train departs or once they arrive in York.
The station’s new Family Lounge, which is open to passengers travelling with any operator, will become the second in the LNER portfolio. Each year, thousands of customers enjoy the UK rail network’s first dedicated lounge for families at London King’s Cross which opened in October 2022.
Colette Casey, LNER’s Customer Experience Director, said: “As a parent, I’m delighted that LNER is introducing Family Lounges with a new space in York our latest addition.
“York is a major hub station for us with millions of customers starting or ending their journeys here each year. We constantly strive to deliver improved experiences for all our customers as they travel with us and providing these new facilities is bound to aid that.
“We want families to see train travel as an option for them. We hope that this new lounge will provide fun and entertainment for children and a space to relax for parents and carers.”
To ensure LNER’s Family Lounges are of benefit to families, the train operator has previously consulted with the Campaign for Family Friendly Trains, a group of parents and carers working for better facilities for children and their families on the UK rail network.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: "We are pleased to see LNER power ahead with the introduction of a new family lounge at York station, offering a welcoming and comfortable space for families travelling by train.
“The popularity of the family lounge at King’s Cross station highlights just how valuable these facilities are, and we congratulate LNER on expanding this initiative to another station in its network.
“We hope this sets a positive trend for other train operators to follow and leads to more family-friendly facilities across the UK."
For more tips on travelling with children on LNER services, visit: https://www.lner.co.uk/our-trains/travelling-with-children/
