the InterCity East Coast franchise, which is presently operated by London North Eastern Railway. Between 2000 and 2005, with support from GNER, Bombardier Transportation, HSBC Rail funded a complete rebuilding and refurbishment programme for both the Class 91 and Mark 4 coaches, called Project Mallard. In July 2013, it was confirmed that the InterCity 225 fleet would be replaced as part of the Intercity Express Programme, a Department for Transport initiative to replace InterCity 125s and InterCity 225s on the East Coast Main Line and the Great Western Main Line. Introduced in the programme were Class 800 bi-mode and Class 801 electric trains from the Hitachi A-train family, of which the ECML sets were nicknamed Azuma after the Japanese word for "East". During their operation with Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) in 2016, there were plans to retain six to eight sets with shorter rakes for a new London to Edinburgh service, even with the Azuma takeover. In June 2018, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) inherited all 31 InterCity 225 sets from VTEC as part of the franchise. At this point, LNER had no intentions to retain any of the InterCity 225 sets due to high maintenance costs on the fleet. The first Class 800 entered service with LNER on 15 May 2019, allowing for the first withdrawal of an InterCity 225 set. The withdrawals have gradually continued as more of the new Azuma trains entered service and at the beginning of 2020, it was planned that the final InterCity 225 sets would leave LNER's fleet by June 2020. However, LNER decided to retain seven sets until 2023 to allow for services to be increased in December 2021. From September 2020, they ceased operating north of York. With LNER returning the majority of their InterCity 225 sets to Eversholt Rail Group, it has been announced that other companies would be obtaining some of the Mark 4 carriages and Driving Van Trailers. Transport For Wales have leased twelve Mark 4 carriages to replace Mark 3 coaches on its Premier Service. Prospective operator Grand Union is proposing to operate InterCity 225s on London Paddington to Cardiff Central services from December 2020 and London Euston to Stirling services from May 2021. From May 2020, Grand Central were planning to begin using Mark 4 carriages on its new London Euston to Blackpool North services with Class 90 locomotives hauling six-carriage sets. However, these plans