Southern increases capacity for passengers on busy routes in the capital

• Southern and Thameslink introduce new timetables from 21 May to address changes in passenger demand
• Longer Southern trains for busier times and routes, such as the West London Line, metro services via Tulse Hill, and the Uckfield branch
• Additional services for East Grinstead, Ewell East and Hemel Hempstead customers

Passengers on busy routes in London will have more space to travel when Southern and Thameslink introduce their new summer timetables from Sunday 21 May. Passengers should check the new schedules in online journey planners such as National Rail Enquiries.

The changes [detailed in editors’ notes below] include a 60 per cent increase in capacity for morning peak services via Tulse Hill. To achieve this major uplift, services from East Croydon and Beckenham to London Bridge will run with an extra (sixth) carriage, and two additional services will run on Mondays to Fridays, calling at all stations from Streatham Hill to London Bridge.

West London Line passengers will gain longer trains, all services now running with five carriages instead of four. In response to passenger requests, one Watford Junction service will be extended to Hemel Hempstead.

In a local change on the Horsham to London Victoria via Hackbridge route, more peak services will call at Ewell East. Arrival and departure times between Dorking and Cheam will be adjusted slightly.

In response to passenger requests, an additional mid-morning service will run in each direction between East Grinstead and London Victoria, with an additional late-evening train from London. Some morning departures from Uckfield to London Bridge will be lengthened from three to five carriages.

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Southern and Thameslink, said: “We’re pleased to be making these adjustments to provide more seats when and where more passengers need them. The changes are designed to make the best positive difference locally, and respond to requests and suggestions from our passengers. We recommend that all our customers check for changes on their route before travelling in the week beginning 21 May.”

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Editors’ notes

Summer timetable 2023: key changes on London and Surrey routes

Southern

East Croydon / Beckenham Junction to London Bridge via Tulse Hill and London Bridge to LondonVictoria / West Croydon to London Victoria

Increasing peak AM capacity via Tulse Hill by 60%:

• All East Croydon or Beckenham Junction via Tulse Hill services will now run as six, rather than five carriages.
• Two additional AM peak services will run Monday to Friday, calling at all stations Streatham Hill to London Bridge.

Based on a review of relative demand, services via Streatham Hill (London Bridge to London Victoria, West Croydon to London Victoria) will now run predominantly as eight, rather than ten carriages.

Watford Junction to East Croydon

All services will now run with five, rather than four carriages. In response to passenger requests, the 18:10 East Croydon to Watford Junction service will be extended to Hemel Hempstead.

Epsom to London Bridge via Norwood Junction

Following a review of demand, weekday off-peak and weekend services will run with four or five carriages instead of instead of 8 or 10. Peak services will be unchanged at ten carriages.

Horsham, Dorking, Epsom, Sutton to London Victoria via Hackbridge

Additional peak services will now call at Ewell East. This will change departure and arrival times slightly between Cheam and Dorking.

East Grinstead to London Victoria

In response to passenger and stakeholder requests:

• One additional mid-morning service will run in each direction to provide a half hourly frequency throughout the morning.
• One additional late-evening service from London Victoria will create a half-hourly service through to 23:22, Monday-Friday.

To allow for these changes, frequency on quieter services in the early morning and late evening on Sundays will reduce from half-hourly to hourly before 10:00 and after 20:00.

Uckfield to London Bridge

To better match demand, the 05:31 and 08:33 Uckfield to London Bridge departures will now run with five carriages versus three. The 07:33 Uckfield to London Bridge departure will run with six carriages versus eight.

Thameslink (south)

Bedford to Three Bridges / Horsham to London Bridge – Sundays

Following a user-group suggestion, to improve the consistency of services, the one train per hour Sunday service between Horsham and London Bridge will be replaced by extending one of the two per hour services between Bedford and Three Bridges (via London Bridge) to Horsham. This also means there will now be direct Sunday services between Horsham, Littlehaven, Ifield, Crawley and London Blackfriars, Farringdon, and St Pancras International for the first time.

Bedford to Three Bridges – Overnight services

The 02:53 Bedford to Brighton service will now run Gatwick Airport to Brighton only, and the 03:15 Three Bridges to Bedford service will no longer run. This will mean that cross-London frequency is now hourly, rather than half-hourly between approximately 03:30 and 04:30.