Rail journey-planning tools boosted to help passengers find quiet trains

As restrictions ease and more people return to rail travel, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has launched a new information tool designed to give customers information at their fingertips on which train services are the least busy.

Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern websites all now feature a ‘Find a quieter train’ page, which can be found under ‘travel information’. Using data collected from on-train passenger counting equipment from the previous two weeks, passengers can see which services were busier than others – helping to choose quieter times to travel.

This helpful new information can be seen on the ‘Live Departure Board’ function of each of GTR’s brand websites. For customers wishing to travel within two hours from the time they are looking, they simply need to enter their chosen start and end destination to view how busy each service is predicted to be. Colour coded icons found under ‘seat availability’ will provide guidance on how many seats are usually available.

Customers planning further ahead are advised to use the company’s online timetables to see how busy trains usually are on each individual day of the week. This is especially helpful for those planning to return to the office a few days a week, as they can select days and times to travel that are best suited to them.

Steve White, Chief Operating Officer at Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We want our passengers to have information at their fingertips that helps them plan their journey. We know that many customers value quieter services and have some flexibility as to when to travel. Helping customers find quieter trains will be very helpful as more people return to rail and trains become busier. We have fast tracked the development of these new tools to help returning customers feel more confident and comfortable about travelling. We can’t wait to welcome more people back to our railway.”

To see how the tools can help you, visit:

• www.southernrailway.com/findaquietertrain
• www.thameslinkrailway.com/findaquietertrain
• www.greatnorthernrail.com/findaquietertrain

Data will continue to feed into the tools every day over the coming weeks and months.

In addition to the new tools, GTR will continue to attach a warning triangle to busy trains on journey planners. For further support, customers can also subscribe to journey alerts through National Rail Messenger, which will inform users about any cancellations or delays as well as updating if the service is expected to be busy.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

How does it work?

• Using data collected from on-train passenger counting equipment, we predict how many people use Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink trains during the current week, based on how busy they were over the previous two weeks. The information is updated automatically each day to keep it as up to date as possible.
• If there’s no information shown for your journey, it means information isn’t available for that train. There may be occasions where it isn’t possible to match some services to those on previous weeks due to timetable changes or engineering work, for example, if the last two Saturdays had an altered time due to engineering work. However, we’ll provide as much information as we possibly can.
• We ask you do everything possible to maintain social distancing. If the train is already busy when it arrives at the station, you should try and wait for the next service if you can. To help you plan, please check the journey planners before you travel to see if the train you want is busy.

My train doesn’t show this information, why is this?

• If there’s no information shown for your journey, it means information isn’t available for that train. There may be occasions where it isn’t possible to match some services to those on previous weeks due to timetable changes or engineering work, for example, if the last two Saturdays had an altered time due to engineering work. However, we’ll provide as much information as we possibly can.
• We ask you do everything possible to maintain social distancing. If the train is already busy when it arrives at the station, you should try and wait for the next service if you can. To help you plan, please check the journey planners before you travel to see if the train you want is busy.

What do I do if the train is full?

• We ask you do everything possible to maintain social distancing. If the train is already busy when it arrives at the station, you should try and wait for the next service if you can. To help you plan, please check the journey planners before you travel to see if the train you want is busy.

Where else can I find information about which trains are quieter?

• We will continue to attach an alert to busy trains in the journey planner on the National Rail and our own website with an alert. These trains will appear with a warning triangle within the journey planners.
• You can also subscribe to journey alerts through National Rail Messenger. Just visit Messenger to set up alerts for your journey or use the journey planner and choose ‘Keep me updated’. With this tool you can set up alerts for regular or one-off journeys, it’ll keep you informed about any cancellations or delays as well as updating if the service is expected to be busy.