Sussex rail passengers can look forward to additional trains when the new Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) timetable comes into force on Sunday 10 December.
People living in the areas around Preston Park and Hassocks stations requested additional services and will gain six morning peak services into London as well as six evening peak services in the opposite direction. This means that the peak services into and out of London Bridge and the Thameslink core will be doubled with four trains per hour running instead of two. This will be enabled by Thameslink trains from Brighton to Cambridge making additional stops. To accommodate the additional stops and to maintain arrival time into London, services will depart Brighton five minutes earlier that at present.
This means that the present 06.14, 06.44, 07.14, 07.44, 08.14 and 08.44 departures will leave five minutes earlier after the timetable change. The evening peak service will arrive into Brighton three minutes later than at present. The three or four Southern services to London Victoria are unchanged in the new timetable.
Trains between Brighton and Seaford, calling at Newhaven Harbour, will run hourly all day and half-hourly at busier times. Train services will increase threefold, from 18 to 53 services a day. This will meet increasing demand from the growing area of Newhaven and will improve connections to the ferry terminal.
Glynde and Berwick residents will have a new late-evening train from Brighton. The new service from Brighton to Eastbourne will depart at 23.32, rather than 21.56 as it does at present.
The increasing demand for morning services from Horsham to London Victoria via Sutton and Hackbridge is being met by Southern which is lengthening the 08.17 train from five to eight carriages, in line with the eight- or ten-carriage trains running during the rest of the morning peak. A number of popular Saturday trains have already been lengthened from five to eight or ten carriages.
Jenny Saunders, GTR's Customer Services Director, said: “We're constantly listening to our passengers and local communities, and these improvements are designed to meet demand where they tell us it's needed most, help communities grow, and attract new customers to rail.”
