Winter timetable to be introduced on Thameslink and Great Northern from Monday 10 December

From Monday 10 December, passengers on Thameslink and Great Northern will benefit from 200 additional weekday services.

There will be 32 additional peak and 170 off peak trains. Most current services already in the timetable will remain unchanged.

The boost takes the total number of daily services across the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) network to 3,600 from 3,400 in July.

Additional peak services will operate across the network from Cambridge, Peterborough, Brighton, St Albans, Horsham, Rainham, Luton, Orpington, East Grinstead, Bedford and on the Wimbledon loop.

Elsewhere on the Govia Thameslink Railway network, most Southern and Gatwick Express services will remain unchanged and there will be no change to weekend services across the GTR network.

As part of the introduction, 12 night services will be introduced from 7 January.

Patrick Verwer, Chief Executive Officer of GTR, said: “I would like to thank passengers for their continued patience as we add the extra services and while Network Rail carry out engineering work. We have learnt the lessons of the May timetable change, taking the full three months to plan change and improve travel advice to passengers. The winter timetable also gives passengers more options to travel - particularly for off-peak journeys.”

Network Rail’s Route Managing Director for the South East Route, John Halsall, said: “Network Rail has been working alongside GTR to make sure passengers benefit from the additional services that the winter timetable will provide. December is traditionally a busy month on the railways and there will be planned weekend engineering works, so we advise passengers to check before they travel from 10 December and between Christmas and New Year.”

Almost 2,000 drivers are now working across the GTR network – more than ever. Front-line staff are being issued with new smartphones so they are better able to help passengers with live information about their services.

As the extra trains are brought in, there will be extra staff at key stations to help out, including many volunteers from across GTR.

Passengers are advised to check before they travel until the end of the holiday period, on 7 January, due to timetable revisions to allow for engineering works and a bedding in period for the new services. Network Rail will be carrying out essential work at this time at London Victoria and Kentish Town.

Passengers can find out more about the engineering work and the new services in advance. They should check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk/christmas or download the National Rail app for live departure updates and timetable information.

Ends

Timetables can be viewed here.

Additional capacity: The additional 200 services complete the weekday timetable originally introduced in May. This delivers 70 per cent of the capacity benefits of GTR’s modernisation programme, with space for 50,000 extra passengers into London each morning peak compared to the service before the May 2018 timetable change.

Local benefits: The additional 32 peak services will create an increase from two trains per hour (tph) to 4tph throughout the day on the Catford Loop in south-east London; from 3tph to 4tph on the Great Northern metro route to and from Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North, and from 1tph to 2tph on the Rainham line in north Kent, plus many gaps filled.

Services from 7 January: To facilitate the smooth introduction of the winter timetable, and maximise the resilience of the daytime services in the first few weeks, we will bring in an extra 12 night time services from 7 January. These will operate between Bedford and Brighton / Three Bridges.

Network Rail engineering works: December is traditionally a busy month on the railways and Network Rail engineering works will be much more extensive and longer lasting than usual, with works in and out of London Victoria and at Kentish Town, in addition to the on-going planned weekend engineering work across the network:

• 9 December: Thameslink is closed across the centre of London with an amended service running on the rest of the Thameslink network
• 15 and 16 December: Revised weekend timetable due to planned engineering work at Victoria. No services through Lewes on the Sunday and various other planned engineering work on the Southern network
• 23 December to 1 January: Christmas and New Year timetable with key closures of London Victoria
• 5 and 6 January: Revised weekend timetable between Three Bridges and Brighton (Sunday); no service between Peterborough and Biggleswade; no service between Hurst Green and Uckfield (Sunday)