Passenger capacity on busy London routes to be increased for Southern and Thameslink

Sunday the 21st of May will see both Southern and Thameslink introduce a new summer timetable. The new timetable will see capacity increased by 60% for busy London routes for morning peak services via Tulse Hill.

Due to the significant capacity increase, services from East Croydon and Beckenham to London Bridge using a sixth carriage alongside the addition of two further services from Monday to Friday which will call at all stations from Streatham Hill to London Bridge.

Passengers using the West London Line will also see longer trains operating services with five carriages in place of four, this change has been made due to passenger requests alongside one Watford Junction service which will extend to include Hemel Hempstead.

The Horsham to London Victoria via Hackbridge route will see a local change with more peak services to call at Ewell East. Arrival and departure times for services operating between Dorking and Cheam will see some minor changes.

Passenger requests have also led to a further mid-morning service in each direction between East Grinstead and London Victoria and will also see a further late evening train from London. Some morning departures for Uckfield to London Bridge service will also see carriage numbers increased to five carriages from three.

Changes to services in the Summer 2023 timetable for London and Surrey routes are as follows: 

For Southern Services:

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

• Will see an increase in peak AM capacity of 60% for services via Tulse Hill
• All East Croydon or Beckenham Junction via Tulse Hill services will operate using six carriages in place of five
• Two further AM peak services will operate from Monday to Friday and will call at all stations from Streatham Hill to London Bridge.
• Services via Streatham Hill (London Bridge to London Victoria, West Croydon to London Victoria) will now run largely as eight, rather than ten carriages, this change follows a review of relative demand

Watford Junction to East Croydon:

• All services will operate with five carriages in place of four. This change follows passenger requests
• The 18:10 East Croydon to Watford Junction service will be extended to Hemel Hempstead.

Epsom to London Bridge via Norwood Junction:

• Weekday off-peak and weekend services will operate using either four or five carriages in place of 8 or 10, this change follows a review of demand.
• Peak services will remain unchanged and will continue to operate using ten carriages.

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

• Further peak services will call at Ewell East which will mean a slight change in departure and arrival time between Cheam and Dorking.

East Grinstead to London Victoria:

• One further mid-morning service will operate in both directions creating half-hourly frequency during the morning.
• One extra late-evening service will run from London Victoria and will create a half-hourly service through to 23:22 from Monday to Friday.
• The frequency of quieter services during early morning and late evening on Sundays will be reduced from half-hourly to hourly before 10:00 and after 20:00. These changes will allow the above changes to take place.
• All changes have been made due to both passenger and stakeholder requests.

Uckfield to London Bridge:

• The 05:31 and 08:33 Uckfield to London Bridge will now depart using five carriages in place of three in order to meet demand.
• The 07:33 Uckfield to London Bridge will depart using six carriages in place of eight.

Thameslink (South)

Bedford to Three Bridges / Horsham to London Bridge – Sundays:

• The one train-per-hour Sunday service operating 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 change has been made following a user-group suggestion and will bring improvement in service consistency.
• Direct Sunday services between Horsham, Littlehaven, Ifield, Crawley and London Blackfriars, Farringdon, and St Pancras International will operate for the very first time.

Bedford to Three Bridges – Overnight services:

• The 02:53 Bedford to Brighton service will now operate from Gatwick Airport to Brighton only
• The 03:15 Three Bridges to Bedford service will no longer operate.
• These changes will see cross-London frequency operate on an hourly basis in place of half-hourly between the hours of approximately 03:30 and 04:30.

Passengers are advised to check the new schedules using online journey planners including National Rail Enquiries.

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.”