South Eastern Railway will introduce an express weekday service between Hastings and Charing Cross from December, cutting the total journey time to London Bridge by 14 minutes for customers travelling from Hastings, Battle and Tunbridge Wells.
The train will call at St Leonards Warrior Square, Battle, Tunbridge Wells, London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross, providing an additional peak-time travel option for customers from these stations.
The new morning service will depart Hastings at 08:05 and arrive at Charing Cross at 09:33. This service will be formed of four coaches with 2 plus 2 seating and tables to facilitate a productive journey.
A return service will leave Charing Cross at 16:11 and arrive in Hastings at 17:42.
Helena Dollimore MP, Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Hastings, Rye and the villages said:
“Brilliant news for our area: a new fast train to London is coming in December 2026.
"Securing a faster train service for our town has been one of my top priorities as our local MP. When we are almost the same distance from London as Brighton, why should our train take twice as long? This new service is great news for commuters and for our local shops, hotels, pubs, and restaurants that rely on tourists coming down to visit us.
"This new fast train will be a pilot service. If we want it to stay, we all must use it to show the demand.
“I will keep pushing for better transport services in our area, including reopening Ashford International to cross-channel trains, pushing for action on missed connections on the Marshlink, and upgrading the track connecting Ashford, Rye, Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton.”
Scott Brightwell, South Eastern Railway’s Safety, Planning and Performance Director said:
"We know how important fast and frequent services are to our customers and are constantly looking at how we can deliver better services that meet the needs of the communities we serve. This new Hastings Express service will shave 14 mins off the journey into London in the morning. An additional return service in the evening, will save a similar amount of time against the average of evening peak services.
“We are a growing railway and looking forward to trialling these new services to assess their demand and benefit to customers.
"It's also part of a much bigger package of improvements in December. We're providing more trains to Tunbridge Wells, Ashford and Maidstone East, creating a more frequent Metro network across south-east London and delivering improvements on other routes across Kent and East Sussex."
The Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, said:
"This new express service will make a real difference for passengers travelling between Hastings and London, cutting journey times and giving people more time back in their day.
" A better-connected railway will support growth, jobs and homes across the South East. This is exactly the kind of change public ownership of our railways is delivering, putting passenger experience first and real improvements to services.”
This service forms part of a wider package of improvements being introduced across Kent, East Sussex and south-east London from December. Customers on the Hastings line will benefit from the return of half-hourly semi-fast services between Tunbridge Wells and Charing Cross throughout the day on weekdays and Saturdays, alongside additional late-evening journeys to and from Hastings. Customers on the Maidstone East line will benefit from more frequent services, additional direct trains to Charing Cross and, for the first time, a train to Charing Cross every hour on Sundays, creating a train to London approximately every 30 minutes when combined with existing Victoria services.
On the Isle of Sheppey, customers at Sheerness-on-Sea, Queenborough and Kemsley will gain trains every 30 minutes throughout the day, seven days a week, delivering the most frequent timetable on the line in 30 years and improving connections at Sittingbourne.
Other timetable improvements include:
- Half-hourly semi-fast services between Charing Cross and Tunbridge Wells throughout off-peak periods on weekdays and across Saturdays, providing more frequent journeys to Orpington, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells.
- Restored half-hourly services between Victoria and Ashford via Maidstone East throughout the day, alongside additional direct Charing Cross services.
- Additional 16:58 evening peak service between Cannon Street and Ashford via Tonbridge and Headcorn, providing extra capacity at the busiest time of the day
- Two trains an hour throughout the day, seven days a week, on the Sheerness branch, providing the best timetable on the line for 30 years and better connections at Sittingbourne.
- A more connected Metro network across south-east London, with almost all Metro routes operating at least four trains an hour during the daytime from Monday to Saturday and improved links to the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood.
- More frequent services on the Bexleyheath line, including up to six trains an hour and half hourly all day direct services to Charing Cross.
The December timetable builds on improvements introduced in May this year, including additional peak-time capacity on Highspeed routes serving Canterbury West and Thanet, helping create a more frequent and better-connected railway across Kent, East Sussex and south-east London.
Southeastern has also submitted a business case to the Department for Transport for a new Metro train fleet, supporting its longer-term ambition to improve capacity and accessibility across the network.
