Passengers looking to travel from the far north of Scotland into the Highland capital, have more opportunities to do so from Monday 11 December, with the introduction of a fourth train from Wick.

The new service,which started with First ScotRail's winter timetable, provides a convenient connection at Thurso for customers coming over on the morning ferry from Orkney and is the first ever all year fourth train.

Natalie Loughborough, First ScotRail's Customer Service Director was at Inverness Station to welcome in the first service on its arrival. She met with local MSP Jamie Stone, Frank Roach, Rail Development Manager at
Highland Rail Partnership and other distinguished guests, who had travelled down on the train to mark the maiden voyage.

The new journey time of three and a half hours from Thurso to Inverness was announced as a record with it also now being possible to travel from Orkney to London in one day!

Since launching in December 2005, Invernet has seen a steady rise in the number of people travelling in and out of Inverness from the south and north. Service monitoring indicates a 29% growth in the number of passenger journeys on the Far North Line compared to the same period the year before. The 11.44 Inverness to Tain service has been retimed and will now depart at 12.17 and travel to Invergordon. The benefit of the retiming allows customers travelling from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, to connect with the service going north, creating a more seamless overall journey.

Natalie Loughborough, Customer Service Director at First ScotRail said: "The provision of an additional service from Wick is certain to be well received, increasing the travel opportunities for customers living in the far north of Scotland. We are also really pleased with the number of people using the 'Invernet' services and hope to continue building on rail travel uptake in this area, through continued working relationships with industry partners."

Frank Roach Rail Development Manager at Highland Rail Partnership said, "The new train service is another step in the development of rail across the Highlands and Islands area, and helps us towards the regional aspiration of four trains per day on rural routes, while at the same time shrinking journey times."