New timetable introduces more choice for Southern coastal passengers

With the introduction of a new timetable on Sunday, 21st May, there will be changes to Southern services along the Sussex coast and the introduction of newer trains.

There will also be changes on other Sussex and South London routes, and travellers should check the new times on the company's website or an online journey planner.

East Coastway between Brighton and Hastings

• Services on the East Coastway have been replanned to make them more suitable for commuters, day-trippers, and students between Brighton and Ashford.
• Some Monday and Friday trains will be shortened due to more people working from home, to enhance other services.
• There will be a new off-peak Brighton to Eastbourne service, and two journeys per hour between Hastings and Brighton all day.
• The Lewes to Brighton weekday service will switch to four trains per hour all day.
• To make the timetable simpler, departure times have been moved to a ‘clock-face' pattern, with trains departing at the same time each hour without big gaps in service. Some journeys will be up to five minutes faster.
• Saturday services between Brighton and Hastings will be replaced by the new weekday schedule, with one direct and one indirect journey per hour changing at Lewes or Eastbourne.
• Ore to London Victoria services will now run with eight rather than twelve carriages on Mondays and Fridays.

Marshlink:

• On the Marshlink line between Hastings and Ashford International, the same service level will now operate seven days a week, introducing hourly services at Three Oaks and Winchelsea.
• The Sunday service includes additional stops at Pevensey & Westham, Cooden Beach, and Collington.

West Coastway:

• Peak-time services between Brighton and West Worthing will increase to four per hour.
• An additional morning service from Chichester to Brighton will replace the Great Western Railway service that was withdrawn last year.

New trains:

• At the same time as the new schedules come into operation, Class 377 and 387 trains with air conditioning and accessible toilets will replace the 47-year-old Class 313s on five routes: Portsmouth-Brighton, Portsmouth & Southsea-Littlehampton, Bognor Regis-Littlehampton, Brighton-Lewes and Brighton-Seaford. An extra (fourth) carriage will be added to Portsmouth to Brighton trains.

Other Southern and Thameslink services:

Between East Grinstead and London Victoria:

• One additional mid-morning service will run in each direction.
• There will be an extra late-evening service from London Victoria.
• Services in the early morning and late evening on Sundays will reduce from half-hourly to hourly before 10:00 and after 20:00.

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

• Additional peak services will now call at Ewell East.

Uckfield to London Bridge:

• The 05:31 and 08:33 Uckfield to London Bridge will now have five carriages.
• The 07:33 Uckfield to London Bridge will have six carriages.

Epsom to London Bridge via Norwood Junction:

• Weekday off-peak and weekend services will have four or five carriages instead of eight or ten.

Thameslink (Sussex services):

Littlehampton to London Bridge:

• The one train per peak Thameslink service between Littlehampton and London Bridge will transfer to Southern and will not call at Gatwick Airport.

Sunday services Bedford to Three Bridges / Horsham to London Bridge:

• One of the two-per-hour services between Bedford and Three Bridges (via London Bridge) will be extended o Horsham.
• There will now be direct Sunday services between Horsham, Littlehaven, Ifield, Crawley and London Blackfriars, Farringdon, and St Pancras International.

Bedford to Three Bridges – Overnight services

• The 02:53 Bedford to Brighton service will now only run Gatwick Airport to Brighton.
• The 03:15 Three Bridges to Bedford service will no longer run.
• Cross-London services will now be hourly rather than half-hourly between 03:30 and 04:30.

Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Southern, said: “We're making coastal train journeys better for our customers, and attracting new passengers to rail. I want to thank the local groups who were actively involved in helping us shape a timetable that improves connections and provides a better frequency of services by spacing trains out more regularly.

“Across the network, we're making changes on several routes, so we're advising all our customers to check for new train times, via our website or National Rail Enquiries, well in advance.”

Yolanda Laybourne, Chair of Bexhill Rail Action Group, said: “Southern's planning team have sought not only to overcome the challenges by thinking differently and, in our view very innovatively, but have set our railway up for a return to growth by taking a fresh look at the timetable, adjusting it for passenger benefit, and, with the support of local stakeholders, user groups, councils and local businesses, to achieve a better overall output.”