New train timetable: Southern and Thameslink commuters warned as massive changes set to come into force

Chloe Chaplain16 May 2018

Rail passengers face a shake-up of regular commuter routes as millions of trains were set to be rescheduled from Sunday.

Scores of departure times will change across the busiest networks as part of plans to increase overall frequencies and reliability of services .

Many customers will welcome the improvements to their daily commute but have been warned to study new timetables carefully as some could find their regular journeys are no longer possible.

The new schedule takes into account existing issues such as inadequate stop times and short turnaround times at destination stations which mean the slightest disruption causes multiple delays.

Update: The changes are part of a huge redevelopment which saw London Bridge station transformed

Many of the changes are a result of the £7 billion invested in the Thameslink programme in the South East, including rebuilding London Bridge station, new trains and track improvements.

In the new timetable departure times will change for every train run by the UK's busiest franchise - Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) - which consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.

And there will be almost 400 additional GTR trains every day.

But some passengers in a number of locations are complaining they are about to be hit with fewer or slower services, including in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Kent, East Sussex and Surrey, where many pay thousands for season tickets to London.

Emily Ketchin, founder of campaign group Harpenden Thameslink Commuters, claims the operator is "slashing key Harpenden services by a third".

She said: "This is going to have a real impact on people's ability to get to work, especially working parents who already struggle with juggling childcare and work commitments. These cuts were implemented without consultation and without consideration.

But GTR insisted it carried out the biggest consultation of its kind, receiving 28,000 responses over 18 months.

The timetable will change for every train run by GTR - which consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.
Katie Collins/PA Wire

It says it will have space for an extra 50,000 extra passengers travelling to London in the morning peak each day, and 80 more stations will have direct services to the centre of the capital.

Some disruption is expected while trains and crews are redeployed over the coming weeks.

GTR chief executive Charles Horton said: "We are introducing the biggest ever change to rail timetables to significantly boost capacity on the UK's most congested network.

"We don't want passengers to get caught out and so we strongly advise them to look up the times of their trains as they will find that from 20 May each and every one of them has changed."

Anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said: "Many passengers will have a greater choice of services, however there will also be some who lose out.

"Those who haven't seen the warnings will get a surprise when they go for their usual train on Monday morning.

"Having plenty of staff on the ground from the start and during the initial transition, when changes will bed down, will be critical."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in