Timetable Changes

Avanti West Coast

The December 2023 timetable starts on Sunday 10 December. There are no major changes to Avanti West Coast services in this timetable. There are a few minor alterations to some services, including some additional trains running in the busiest hours on the Birmingham route, providing more journey opportunities.

The Avanti West Coast scheduled timetable book for 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the Avanti West Coast timetable page.

c2c

c2c are making the following changes to weekday services from 10 December 2023:

• An additional service will run at 07:21 from Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street

• An additional service will run at 07:37 from Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street

• 07:29 Thorpe Bay to London Fenchurch Street is retimed to 07:31 and will no longer call at Laindon.

Caledonian Sleeper

No significant changes to the Caledonian Sleeper timetable have been announced.

Chiltern Railways

The Chiltern Railways December 2023 timetable which starts on Sunday 10 December 2023 has very few changes, when compared to the previous timetable.

A small number of services have had their times changed by a few minutes with the aim of improving overall punctuality. Customers should check journey planners to see if their train is affected.

The ‘leaf-fall’ timetable will continue to operate for trains from Aylesbury Vale Parkway / Aylesbury to London Marylebone (via Amersham) until Sunday 7 January 2024. This means that trains on the ‘Metropolitan Line’ route will be timetabled to leave up to three minutes earlier than normal when heading towards London.

The following stations / train schedules are amended:

Bicester Village

• The weekday 06:25 departure to Oxford is retimed to leave at 06:43.

Haddenham & Thame Parkway

• The weekday 08:35 departure from London Marylebone to Banbury will call additionally at Haddenham & Thame Parkway at 09:20, bridging a current 90 minute gap in services to Bicester North and Banbury.

Islip

• The weekday 06:47 departure from London Marylebone to Oxford will call at Islip at 08:00 providing an additional commuter time journey opportunity from Islip into Oxford.

• The weekday 17:49 departure from Oxford to London Marylebone will call additionally at Islip, providing an additional commuter time journey from Oxford to Islip. The train will leave Islip at 17:59 for London.

Kings Sutton

• The train that forms the current 09:19 departure to London Marylebone will no longer call at Kings Sutton.

• An additional train to London Marylebone will call at Kings Sutton at 10:11.

• The weekday 17:11 Birmingham Snow Hill to London Marylebone calls additionally at Kings Sutton at 18:13, providing a much more even spread of trains for customers travelling from Banbury to Kings Sutton in the late afternoon and an additional early evening service to London.

Saunderton

• The weekday 06:05 departure from Oxford to London Marylebone will call additionally at Saunderton at 06:44, arriving into London Marylebone at 07:34.

• The weekday 09:01 train from Saunderton to London Marylebone will no longer stop at the station. It is hoped that this station call will be reinstated in June 2024.

Chiltern Railways timetables are available on their timetable download page.

CrossCountry 

The CrossCountry timetable will be changing from 10 December 2023.

CrossCountry will continue to operate their enhanced timetable which started in May 2023. In addition to this, a half hourly service will operate between Nottingham and Birmingham New Street on Mondays to Fridays.  

East Midlands Railway

The East Midlands Railway December 2023 timetable which starts on Sunday 10 December 2023 has the following changes:

Four new weekday services are being introduced between Nottingham and Crewe:

• 05:53 and 16:16 Nottingham to Crewe

• 08:10 and 18:10 Crewe to Nottingham

One new weekday service between Liverpool Lime Street and Nottingham:

• 08:51 Liverpool Lime Street to Nottingham

Two new Saturday services between Lincoln and Peterborough:

• 18:00 Lincoln to Peterborough

• 19:26 Peterborough to Lincoln

The 05:01 Nottingham to Sleaford weekday service has been removed from the timetable due to very small passenger numbers since introduction.

No services changes are being made to EMR Intercity services, or to EMR Connect services.

Elizabeth line

The Elizabeth line timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the TfL website.

Gatwick Express

Gatwick Express have no significant timetable changes from 10 December 2023, but some train times will still be changing, please check your journey. 

The timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the Gatwick Express website.

Grand Central

The timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the Grand Central website.

Great Northern

Great Northern have no significant timetable changes from 10 December 2023, but some train times will still be changing, please check your journey. 

The timetables from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 are available on the Great Northern website.

Great Western Railway (GWR)

The route-by-route timetables for Great Western Railway from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 are available to download from the Great Western Railway website.

There will be several retimings and changes across the network with extra carriages provided on certain services.

The main timetable changes are listed below:

Mondays to Fridays

Reading - Redhill services extended to/from Gatwick Airport:

Reading - Redhill services will run through to Gatwick Airport giving 2 trains per hour from Reading to the airport, one 'fast' and one 'stopping at all stations'.

Changes to Didcot Parkway stops on High Speed Services from/to London Paddington:

The calling pattern of trains at Didcot Parkway has been revised, to provide a better service.

London Paddington - Cardiff Central services will now call, together with London Paddington - Oxford trains and Worcester (some beyond) - London Paddington trains. This will provide 4 trains per hour in both directions between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway.

Didcot Parkway - Oxford:

Local stopping services will operate hourly with trains extended to/from Banbury every 2 hours. Together with the additional stops in Oxford/Worcester (some beyond) services this will give an improved 2 trains per hour between Didcot Parkway and Oxford. Additional services continue to run during peak times to maintain levels of service at Culham and Radley.

New morning peak train for Maidenhead:

To address overcrowding issues there will be a new train at 07:39 from Reading to London Paddington, calling at Maidenhead only at 07.51.

Saturdays

Reading - Redhill services extended to/from Gatwick Airport

As on Mondays to Fridays, Reading - Redhill services will run through to Gatwick Airport giving 2 trains per hour from Reading to the airport, one 'fast' and one 'stopping at all stations'.

Additional stops at Didcot Parkway on High Speed Services from/to London Paddington:

Trains from London Paddington to Oxford and trains from Worcester (some beyond) to London Paddington will call additionally at Didcot Parkway.

Didcot Parkway - Oxford:

Local stopping services will operate hourly with trains extended to/from Banbury every 2 hours. Together with the additional stops in Oxford/Worcester (some beyond) services this will give an improved 2 trains per hour between Didcot Parkway and Oxford.

Additional services to reduce overcrowding:

To reduce overcrowding on the London Paddington - Swindon - Bristol route a number of new services and changes will be introduced:

• New services at 09:15, 10:13, 11:15, 13:15, 18:33 from London Paddington to Swindon

• New service at 10:45 from London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare.

• New service at 09:18 from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington

• New services at 10:25, 11:46 and 12:49 from Swindon to London Paddington

• A few calls at Reading in existing services will become pick up only.

Additional late night services on the Exmouth - Paignton route:

To cater for increased demand in this area, several changes to late night services will be made; some trains will be extended, some retimed and there will be additional trains at:

• 20:24, 21:26 Exmouth to Paignton

• 22.18 Newton Abbot to Paignton

• 20.52 Paignton to Exmouth

• 21.38, 22:40, 23:15 Paignton to Exeter St.Davids

• 21.58 Paignton to Newton Abbot.

Sundays

Additional services to reduce overcrowding:

To reduce overcrowding on the London Paddington - Swindon route, a number of new services will be introduced:

11:05, 11:58, 13:05, 15:13, 16:13, 17:13, 18:13, 20:05 London Paddington to Swindon;

08:45, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:50, 18:50, 19:50 Swindon to London Paddington.

London Paddington-Oxford-Worcester-Great Malvern improvements:

The following services will be formed of 9 coaches instead of 5:

08.44, 13:50, 14:50, 15:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern;

11.59, 16:59, 18:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington.

Greater Anglia

 Improvements in the December 2023 timetable will include:

• An additional 07:25 weekday morning peak service from Ipswich to London Liverpool Street, calling at Manningtree, Colchester and Chelmsford, Stratford and London Liverpool Street

• An additional 19:05 weekday evening peak service from London Liverpool Street to Braintree, calling at Stratford, Shenfield, Chelmsford, Witham and then all stations to Braintree

• Additional carriages (up from 5 to 10) on the 18:05 service from London Liverpool Street to Braintree, which calls at Stratford, Shenfield, Ingatestone, Chelmsford, Hatfield Peverel, Witham and then all stations to Braintree

The service improvements are designed to both support the ongoing recovery in passenger numbers and reflect the emerging travel patterns across the Greater Anglia network, as well as take advantage of the new trains now operating on all Greater Anglia services.

Timetables can be downloaded from the Greater Anglia website.

Heathrow Express

No significant changes to the timetable have currently been announced.

A timetable enquiry is available for journey planning on the Heathrow Express website.

Hull Trains

The timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available to download from the Hull Trains website.

Island Line

No significant changes to the timetable have been announced.

The Island Line timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available to download from the South Western Railway website (timetable 24).

London North Eastern Railway (LNER)

Mondays to Saturdays: There will be no significant changes to the timetable.

Sundays are now one of the most popular days to travel on LNER’s network. 

To support this increase in demand, LNER is introducing three additional Sunday services into its timetable starting in December 2023 – two (one each way) between Leeds and London Kings Cross and one between Doncaster and London:

• 08.30 Doncaster to London Kings Cross calling at Retford, Newark Northgate, Grantham and Peterborough

• 11.40 Leeds to London Kings Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Peterborough

• 14.33 London Kings Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Newark Northgate, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

There will also be more seats added to some trains with eight existing Sunday services becoming longer trains. The current five carriage services will be replaced with either nine or ten carriage Azuma trains for destinations including Leeds, Harrogate and Lincoln.  

This equates to more than 3,000 additional seats on a Sunday and will help reduce overcrowding and increase connectivity for more people between Yorkshire and London.   

To provide additional Sunday seating capacity, due to the lengthening of some London Kings Cross to Harrogate services on Sundays, two northbound station calls at Horsforth need to be removed on Sundays only.  The impacted services are the 09.05 and 17:05 London Kings Cross to Harrogate trains. 

The timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the LNER website.

London Northwestern Railway

Timetables are changing from Sunday 10 December. Please see below a summary of the changes.

PDF timetables can be downloaded from the London Northwestern Railway downloadable timetables page.

Birmingham - Liverpool:

• Monday - Friday: A more frequent service will be provided during peak times.

• Saturdays: A more frequent service will be provided and more seats will be available.

• Sundays: Services are unchanged.

Crewe - Stafford (via Stoke):

• Crewe - Birmingham (via Stoke) services will now operate Crewe - Stafford (via Stoke).

• These changes will improve connections at Stafford for onward journeys to Birmingham and London, reducing overall journey times.

• One train per hour will continue to operate between Stafford - Crewe via Stone, Stoke-on-Trent, Longport, Kidsgrove and Alsager.

• Direct journeys to/from Birmingham will still be available from Stoke via CrossCountry, and from Stafford via London Northwestern Railway services to/from Liverpool.

• Penkridge will have one train per hour, calling in each direction, outside of peak times.

To / from London Euston:

• Longer trains will be provided on the busiest London Northwestern Railway Sunday services in and out of London.

London Overground

No significant service changes are being made by London Overground in the December 2023 timetable.

The London Overground route timetables from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available on the TfL Website.

Lumo

The timetable for Lumo from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available to download from the Lumo website.

Merseyrail

No significant changes to the timetable have currently been announced.

The latest timetables can be found on the Merseyrail website.

Northern

Train timetables will change on December 10 2023. Most Northern services will run at the same level as they do in the current timetable with some slight re-timing of services.

North East area changes:

Middlesbrough and Newcastle: Additional two hourly service being introduced. Additional services will not call at Hartlepool until platform works are completed.

Yorkshire & Humber and East Midlands area changes:

• Leeds – Carlisle: From December 2023 until March 2024 services will run as either 2 or 3 carriages for the winter period.

• Penistone line: 17:51 from Huddersfield to Sheffield service will be removed.

• Huddersfield-Castleford (peak services): TransPennine Express will take over this service to facilitate the TransPennine Route Upgrade diversionary route requirements.

• Doncaster – Leeds: Trains will run as 3 carriages instead of 4 throughout the day. Additional carriages will be added to morning peak services from Knottingley to serve stations closer to Leeds.

• Knottingley – Streethouse – Leeds: Service in the morning peak will be extended to 4 carriages, with an additional call at Outwood to provide extra capacity following the changes on the Doncaster route.

• Bradford – Ilkley/Skipton/Leeds: Some changes in the number of carriages with some services running as 3 carriages instead of 4.

North West area changes:

• Manchester Piccadilly - Buxton: During the off-peak most trains will run as 2 carriages instead of 4.

• Blackpool North – Manchester Airport: On quieter services, some trains will run as 4 carriages instead of 6.

• Liverpool - Wigan: Some trains will run as 3 carriages instead of 4.

• Liverpool – Newton-le-Willows - Manchester Airport: Some trains will see an increase in capacity where demand is higher, running as 4 carriages instead of 3. 

ScotRail

ScotRail will be making changes on the following routes from 10 December 2023:

Kyle of Lochalsh - Inverness: The time of the morning service from Kyle of Lochalsh has been amended on Sundays.

Inverness - Aberdeen: Additional weekday services will run at 20:24 from Elgin to Inverness, and at 22:12 from Inverness to Elgin.

Inverurie/Aberdeen - Montrose: A number of Aberdeen local services have been retimed, or withdrawn due to low passenger demand. Stops have been added to the longer distance Glasgow / Edinburgh to Aberdeen services.

Glasgow/Edinburgh - Aberdeen: Following a review of the local services between Dundee and Arbroath a number of services have been withdrawn due to low passenger demand. Stops at the intermediate stations have been added to the Glasgow / Edinburgh to Aberdeen services.

Glasgow - Ayr: There will be additional services on this route departing Ayr at 21:05 and 22:05, and departing Glasgow Central at 21:00 and 22:30.

Glasgow – Ardrossan/Largs: The 16:53 Glasgow Central to Ardrossan Harbour service will stop additionally at Milliken Park. The 23:07 Largs to Glasgow Central service has been retimed to depart at 22:53:

Glasgow - Gourock: On Sundays, due to increased customer demand, 7 additional services will operate in each direction on this route.

Glasgow – Neilston/Newton/Cathcart Circle: These services are further enhanced with 26 additional services on weekdays and 32 on Saturdays. This provides all stations with a minimum half hourly service throughout the day and evening.

Glasgow – Edinburgh (via Shotts): Due to increased customer demand, additional services will operate. All trains call at Bellshill, Shotts, West Calder, Livingston South and Haymarket.

Edinburgh – North Berwick/Dunbar: Wallyford calls have been added to the Dunbar services.

On all routes please check your train times in the new timetable as minor changes have been made.

South Western Railway

The timetables for South Western Railway from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 are available to download from the South Western Railway website.

South Western Railway’s new timetable comes into effect on Sunday 10 December, with more West of England weekday services extended to and from London.

• Recovery in customer numbers sees weekday services that once terminated at or started from Basingstoke restored to direct services.

• Two trains per hour are restored between Andover, Salisbury and London Waterloo along with direct, off-peak services between Overton, Whitchurch, Grateley and London Waterloo.

• Two services will be extended to London Waterloo from East Devon, providing customers between Honiton and Basingstoke with two, and customers between Exeter and Honiton with one, additional direct service to the capital.

• Customers travelling to Yeovil will also see an uplift in direct services, with three extended, direct services to Yeovil Junction, and two to Yeovil Pen Mill, per weekday.

Southeastern

The timetable from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 is available to download from the Southeastern website.

The Southeastern December 2023 timetable is mainly a continuation of the existing timetable. However there will be some additional morning peak time trains targeting areas with the most overcrowding.

Also, the half-hourly service during off-peak on weekdays will be reinstated between London St Pancras International and Faversham.

The full fleet of Class 707 trains will be introduced and integrated into the timetable, providing additional capacity where it is most required.

Changes to Metro services:

06:31 Crayford to London Charing Cross will be an additional service calling all stations via Sidcup and Lewisham, then London Bridge and Waterloo East.

05:55 Gillingham to London Charing Cross will then run non-stop from New Eltham to London Bridge, the intermediate stops are covered by the train above.

07:26 New Cross to London Cannon Street via Sidcup and Greenwich will start back from London Cannon Street at 07:15 calling at London Bridge therefore creating a full rounder service.

08:04 London Cannon Street to London Cannon Street will be an additional rounder service via Greenwich and Sidcup calling all stations (except Lewisham)

The 05:26, 05:55, 06:25 and 06:55 Crayford to London Charing Cross services will call additionally at Albany Park.

The 07:44 Hayes to London Charing Cross service will run later at 07:50, better spreading the departures from Hayes.

Changes to Mainline and High Speed services:

07:43 Maidstone East to London Charing Cross will be an additional service calling at West Walling, Borough Green & Wrotham, Otford, Swanley, London Bridge and Waterloo East.

06:44 Ashford to London Cannon Street will be an additional service calling at Headcorn, Staplehurst, Paddock Wood, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and London Bridge.

Half hourly services during the off-peak on weekdays are reinstated between London St Pancras International and Faversham. Additional trains will run at:

• 08:50 and hourly until 14:50 from London St Pancras International to Faversham

• 19:50 from London St Pancras International to Faversham

• 10:26 and hourly until 17:26 from Faversham to London St Pancras International.

Southern

Key changes to Southern services from 10 December 2023 onwards:

Tonbridge and Redhill:

One train per hour will run throughout the whole day, with some additional services around school times.

Hemel Hempstead and Clapham Junction:

The 10:10 East Croydon to Watford Junction service will be extended to Hemel Hempstead

The 11:52 Watford Junction to Clapham Junction service will start at Hemel Hempstead at 11:38

Horsham/Dorking and London Victoria:

Some services have increased from 5 coaches to 8 or 10 to match demand.

Brighton and Eastbourne:

23:32 Brighton to Eastbourne service will call additionally at Glynde and Berwick

Brighton and Seaford:

Newhaven Harbour will be served hourly, increasing to half hourly during busy periods.

Stansted Express

Greater Anglia is to return to an all day, 4 trains per hour Stansted Express service, 7 days a week from December 2023, as it continues to increase train services and improve timetables in line with recovering customer demand after the pandemic.

After reintroducing a weekday, peak time, 4 trains per hour frequency for Stansted Express services in May this year, airport passenger numbers have continued to increase, so the “every 15 minutes” frequency will be restored during off peak periods and at weekends from Sunday 10 December 2023. As a result, the Stansted Express service will then be as follows:

Monday to Saturdays

London Liverpool Street depart: 03:40, 04:10, 04:40, 05:10, then every 15 minutes to 22:55, then 23.25

Stansted Airport depart: 05:30, 06:00, then every 15 minutes to 23:59, then 00:30

Sundays

London Liverpool Street depart: 04:10, 04:40, 05:10, 05:40, 06:10, then every 15 minutes to 22:55, then 23:25

Stansted Airport depart: 05:30, 06:00, 06:30, 07:00, then every 15 minutes to 23:59, then 00:30

Off peak journey times will also be slightly quicker, with most services scheduled for 47 minutes, as Greater Anglia is able to take full advantage of now operating new trains, with improved performance capabilities, on all its services.

Thameslink

Key changes to Thameslink services from 10 December 2023 onwards:

The opening of Brent Cross West station:

Scheduled to open on 10 December. This station will be served by the following services throughout the day:  

• Sutton and St Albans – four trains per hour  

• Luton and Rainham – two trains per hour  

In peak hours services which run between Luton and Orpington will also call at Brent Cross West.

Bedford and London St Pancras International:

Additional trains will operate, and some existing trains will be retimed to provide extra capacity and faster journey options to and from London during the morning and evening peaks.

Bedford and East Grinstead:

The 07:03 Bedford to Three Bridges service will now run to East Grinstead instead. An additional service will run from East Grinstead to London, departing East Grinstead at 09:14.

Brighton and Cambridge:

Will call additionally at Preston Park and Hassocks in peak hours.

The timetables from 10 December 2023 to 1 June 2024 are available on the Thameslink website.

TransPennine Express

The following major changes will be made in December 2023:

Liverpool Lime Street to Hull: Services will operate between Manchester Piccadilly and Hull only, and will also call at all local stations between Huddersfield and Leeds.

Manchester Piccadilly to Scarborough: Services will operate between York and Scarborough, with a very limited service through to Manchester/Leeds.

Manchester Piccadilly to Huddersfield: Services will be extended once every two hours to York calling at Deighton, Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate, Normanton and Castleford. At peak times, there will be two trains per hour at all local stations between Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield.

Transport for Wales

Timetables are changing from Sunday 10 December. Please see below for the most significant changes:

Chester - Liverpool Lime Street (via Runcorn)

An hourly service will be reintroduced, returning to its full pre-Covid-19 level.

Wrexham - Bidston:

A more frequent daytime service (Monday - Saturday) will be introduced with trains departing every 45 minutes. All services will now stop at Hawarden Bridge station on a request stop basis.

Holyhead - Chester - Cardiff:

The following Monday - Friday services will change to improve service frequency between Shrewsbury and Chester

• 06:48 Cardiff Central - Holyhead will now depart Cardiff Central at 07:17

• 11:33 Holyhead - Cardiff Central will now depart Holyhead at 12:33

On Sundays, a new 11:45 Holyhead - Chester service will be introduced following a change to the Avanti West Coast timetable.

Chester - Crewe:

Some services will depart slightly later to improve connections with services from Llandudno.

Heart of Wales line:

Some services will be slightly retimed due to operational reasons.

Cambrian line:

A train service will resume between Machynlleth and Pwllheli (from 02 December) following the completion of the Barmouth Bridge works.

Some services will be slightly retimed to improve connections between the Aberystwyth service and the Cambrian coast services at Dovey Junction.

Ebbw Vale line:

A new hourly service between Newport and Ebbw Vale will be introduced and the hourly Ebbw Vale - Cardiff services will be retimed.

Maesteg - Gloucester, Cheltenham:

Some services will be slightly retimed to improve service performance.

Pontypridd - Cardiff:

The shuttle services will no longer run due to trains being used to support other services.

West Midlands Railway

Timetables are changing from Sunday 10 December. Please see below a summary of the changes.

PDF timetables can be downloaded from the West Midlands Railway downloadable timetables page.

Birmingham - Rugeley Trent Valley:

• The last departure from Birmingham - Hednesford on weekday evenings (23:22) will be extended to run to Rugeley Trent Valley, providing a later service to Rugeley Trent Valley.

Snow Hill Lines:

• Consistently longer trains will be provided to ease congestion on services on the Snow Hill route.

• Services to Earlswood will run later on Sundays.