Passengers across South East London, East Sussex and Kent are set to benefit from further improvements to their services following the introduction of a new timetable next month.
South Eastern Railway carried almost 138 million journeys last year, up nine million from the previous year. The enhancements coming in December are a response to growing demand and customer feedback.
From Sunday 14 December there will be a raft of changes to help deliver better journeys, including:
- An extra 29 highspeed St Pancras to Faversham services per week. These will run on weekday evenings departing from St Pancras to provide a half-hourly frequency. There will also be more trains between St Pancras and Faversham on Saturdays at the busiest times of the day.
- More services on weekday evenings from Charing Cross to Dartford via Bexleyheath to provide a half-hourly frequency.
- Additional trains at peak times on weekdays from Charing Cross to Maidstone East to also provide a half-hourly frequency.
- Extra services off-peak and evenings on weekdays from London Victoria to Ashford International via Maidstone East.
For increased customer comfort there will be three more of the modern Class 377’s added to the fleet and longer trains on some of the busier services, including:
- The 07.20 from Hastings to Charing cross goes up from eight to twelve carriages.
- The 17.15 Cannon Street to Hastings service will also be twelve carriages rather than eight.
- Weekend services between Victoria and Dartford / Gravesend via Bexleyheath are lengthened from four to eight carriages.
- The 16:04 St Pancras International to Dover Priory via Ashford doubles from six to 12 highspeed class 395 carriages.
Scott Brightwell, Safety, Planning and Performance Director, for South Eastern Railway, said:
“This latest timetable change meets rising demand by increasing services where needed and adding space for extra comfort at the busiest times.
“The modern Class 377 trains with air-conditioning and charging points that we are bringing in, which is part of our wider fleet improvement programme, also helps us in our drive to deliver better journeys.
“Customers can check their amended services now as journey planners have been updated online and full details of the changes can be found on our website.”
The timetable changes next month form part of the national rail timetable update that happens twice a year in May and December.
