The Summer timetable 2024 comes into effect from Sunday 2 June 2024. The summary below describes the changes but, as with all timetable changes, customers are encouraged to check and plan their journeys using a journey planner such as at www.nationalrail.co.uk
Southern
West Coastway Timetable Changes
Last summer, customers and stakeholders were invited to share their views on a new timetable for services on the West Coastway, the route between Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton and to London via Horsham.
Following their feedback, a new and improved Monday to Saturday timetable is being introduced which will see West Coastway customers benefit from:
- Faster regional journeys, such as between Brighton, Chichester and Southampton, or for connections into the West of England.
- New half hourly services between Brighton and Southampton.
- New half hourly services between London, Gatwick and Portsmouth Harbour, improving connections to local ferries and destinations.
- Retained hourly services between Brighton and Portsmouth following public engagement.
- New direct services between Littlehampton and Brighton throughout the day.
- Double the space and frequency on the busy route between Brighton, Worthing and Chichester with trains increasing from two to four per hour all day.
- Improved service reliability through more robust turnaround times at destinations, reducing the likelihood that customers will be affected by delays earlier in the day.
- More even departure times, where trains depart at the same times each hour and at more even intervals - making journeys easier to plan and use for customers.
As a brief outline, the new Monday to Saturday timetable will be formed of:
- Half-hourly services between Brighton and Southampton Central.
- Hourly services between Brighton and Portsmouth & Southsea.
- Half-hourly services between London Victoria and Portsmouth Harbour, which attach and detach at Horsham with half-hourly Bognor Regis services which stop at all the Arun Valley Line stations.
- Half-hourly services between London Victoria and Littlehampton via Hove.
- Hourly all station stopping services between Brighton and Chichester via Littlehampton.
- Half-hourly shuttle services between Bognor Regis and Barnham.
You can find more detail about the changes, why they are being made and the public engagement exercise on GTR's dedicated website page at: www.southernrailway.com/westcoastway
As part of these changes, on Fridays when their usage is light, the two Southern peak only services between Littlehampton and London Bridge will no longer run.
The services will still run Monday to Thursday and the ‘milage saving’ is being reinvested in the improved standard timetable for the West Coastway, including increasing the frequency of the Littlehampton to London Victoria service to half-hourly all day. You can find out more about why this change is being made here.
West London Line services
The four weekday Southern services which extend up to Hemel Hempstead from Watford Junction and then start their return journey at Hemel Hempstead will no longer do so.
From June, services on the West London Line will run between East Croydon and Watford Junction only. Customers travelling to or from Hemel Hempstead can connect between services at Watford Junction or Harrow & Wealdstone.
You can find out more about why this change is being made here.
On Sundays, services between Clapham Junction and Watford Junction will now stop additionally at Wembley Central.
Services between Epsom, Dorking and London Victoria via Carshalton
In response to high demand, all Saturday services between Epsom and London Victoria via Carshalton will run with 8 or 10 carriages.
On weekdays, the existing 06:31 from Epsom to London Victoria service will now start at Horsham at 05:49 and the 17:25 from London Victoria to Epsom service will now continue onto Horsham. This will provide more services for stations between Epsom and Horsham.
Thameslink
Services between Luton and Rainham
Some Thameslink services between Luton and Rainham will see small changes to timings of one or two minutes.
This is part of a wider change in partnership with Southeastern to reduce the intervals between trains in the Greenwich and Woolwich area.
Great Northern
Peak services between Peterborough and Kings Cross
There will be two additional Great Northern fast services between Peterborough and London Kings Cross, calling at Stevenage, Biggleswade, St Neots and Huntingdon.
In the morning, the new service will depart Peterborough at 06:35, arriving at London Kings Cross for 07:44.
In the evening, the new service will depart London Kings Cross at 17:42, arriving at Peterborough for 18:53.