All trains also depart from: Haymarket
If the starting point of your journey is at the western end of the city centre, you can save time by heading to Haymarket station rather than Edinburgh Waverley, in order to board these trains.
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In most hours* on Mondays to Saturdays there are two depatures per hour:
(1) a slightly faster train, by around 10 minutes, which will be heading to Aberdeen - the Inter7City services are used on most of those departures.
(2) a slower train which will be heading to Arbroath or Dundee - the Turbostar trains are used for these departures and on the trains that are used on this route, first class is not available.
*There are three departures between 18:00 and 19:00.
As will be seen, there are far fewer departures on this route on Sundays, so if you will be travelling on that day of the week and plan to purchase tickets at the station just before boarding, it can be worth looking up the departure times before heading off to Edinburgh Waverley.
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However, in some hours, the trains which depart Edinburgh for Dundee have travelled from destinations further south.
These include Azuma trains operated by LNER which originate in Leeds and London and a daily train operated by CrossCountry.
These non ScotRail trains are usually scheduled to depart Edinburgh at:
10:28 on Mon-Sat (LNER)
14:28 on Mon-Sat (LNER)
14:33 on Sunday (LNER)
18:13 daily (Cross Country)
18:33 on Mon-Sat (LNER)
18:36 on Sunday (LNER)
20:32 on Mon-Fri (LNER)
What can be worth be keeping in mind is that because these trains don't commence their journeys in Edinburgh, they are more likely to have a delayed departure.
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Final Destination: Aberdeen or Arbroath or Dundee
All trains also call at: Kirkcaldy and Leuchars (for St Andrews)
Type of Scenery: Coast
Senic Rating: ***
There are very few journeys between two European cities, taken by express trains, that are as consistently fabulous as this route between Edinburgh and Dundee.
Though the sea views on this journey can only be seen on the right-hand side of the train when facing north.
For much of the journey between Edinburgh and Dundee the railway line is beside the coastline of East Fife.
Virtually any time a UK coastal train journey is shown on film and television, what will be seen is a train travelling by the sea in South Devon, but from inside the trains, the views are just as spectacular on this journey – and they’re sustained for longer.
Though the views from the train as it travels by the shore are superseded by those from two of the most stunning train journey experiences which can be found anywhere in Europe!
Namely the views from the Forth Bridge, which occur around 12 -15 mins after the train has departed from Edinburgh, and the views from the Tay Bridge just before the train arrives in Dundee.
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More general information about travelling by train in England, Scotland and Wales is available on this guide to British train travel.