BREAKING: South Yorkshire business bosses back London rail link boost

Next month's Virgin Trains timetable upgrade coincides with completion of the station's Platform O to divert local trains to free up such fast-track services.

Regional captains of commerce this week welcomed introduction of King's Cross 7am weekday arrival to serve city business breakfasts.

Doncaster's 05.07 departure has been hailed "good news" by Chamber of Commerce CEO Dan Fell to "help further connect businesses in the North and South".

Local leisure commuters, such as West End theatre-goers, will also benefit from 10.57pm capital departure to Doncaster and York.

December 12 sees launch of 19 extra Doncaster to London services while the capital will be served by ten extra weekend trains from nearby Leeds and Wakefield.

Mr Fell continued: "Doncaster is renowned for its excellent rail connections and indeed, while these additional rail services mean business people can arrive in London for earlier breakfast appointments, it also means more southern-based firms can leave London more frequently to do business here.”

Virgin Trains East Coast MD David Horne added: “This is a great boost to our customers, especially travelling to and from Doncaster and London.

“Having invested heavily into the customer experience, upgrading our train interiors and launching new on-board streaming service, journeys will fly by.”

Timetable improvements are on track with Virgin Trains nearing completion of trains overhaul ahead of 2018 introduction of "journey transforming" state-of-the-art fleet of Azuma trains (seen here).

Virgin Trains, investing £140 million into East Coast route as part of eight year franchise commitment, has already spent £20 million in refurbished carriages and provided Nretflix-style streaming service as part of its customer service improvements.

Extra trains at a glance:

Weekdays05.07 Doncaster to London King’s Cross

22.57 London King’s Cross to York calling at Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate and Doncaster

Fridays

22.01 Edinburgh Waverley to Newcastle calling at Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnmouth and Morpeth

Saturdays05.30 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Grantham and Peterborough

08.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Grantham, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

11.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate and Doncaster

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

15.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Peterborough, Newark North Gate and Wakefield Westgate

15.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Newark North Gate

9.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

Sundays

08.43 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Peterborough

08:45 London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley calling at York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth

11.20 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and York

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

14.47 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

21.05 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncasterand Wakefield Westgate

22.04 London King’s Cross to Doncaster calling at Peterborough, Grantham and Newark North Gate