How are trains affected by the timetable change?

Services on Southeastern, Govia Thameslink Railway and South Western Railway will all have some changes

A new timetable will come into effect across the railway industry from Sunday.

The changes will see additional services introduced across the South East, with some services having extra carriages creating more seats for passengers.

Services on Southeastern, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and South Western Railway will all have some changes.

Here, we take a look at the key changes below and how this might affect your journey:

Southeastern

Southeastern will be operating 44 new services per day

Southeastern announced in July that when the new timetable starts on 15 December there will be an extra 220 trains operating a week.

This will be made up of 44 new services per day, including:

• Two evening trains that currently run from London Charing Cross to Maidstone East being extended to Ashford International, with additional stops at Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham, Lenham and Charing.

• Morning passengers from Chartham and Chilham will also have a new service at 09:11 GMT and 09:14, respectively, to London Charing Cross, filling what was an hour gap between services.

• There will also be 12 extra peak-time trains, in both the morning and evening, operating on the Greenwich and Sidcup routes, providing more connections to London and Abbey Wood (for the Elizabeth Line).

• On the Orpington - London Victoria route, a service every 15 minutes will now run on week days, turning the service into a "turn up and go metro" style service between approximately 06:00 and 23:30.

• Minor changes to services include the 05:48 Dover Priory - London St Pancras service leaving three minutes earlier at 05:45 and both the 07.33 and 08.05 Strood to Tonbridge trains leaving a minute earlier and having extra time at New Hythe and Aylesford, so schoolchildren have more time to alight services.

Scott Brightwell, Southeastern’s operations and safety director, said: “With this timetable change, we are providing more services and opportunities to travel by train.

“The new services will make it easier to travel for work, to see family and friends or for education and healthcare appointments.”

Govia Thameslink Railway

Out of the three services GTR operates, Southern has the most new services added

GTR operates Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services.

Changes to services on its network are:

• Four extra evening services running on the London Victoria - East Grinstead route, on a Monday to Friday, leaving the London terminal at 20:20 and 21:20 and two return services at 21:36 and 22:36.

• In the evenings from Monday to Friday, an additional service will run from London Bridge to Uckfield, departing at 22:07.

• Two additional services will also run on the Bognor Regis to London Bridge route on a Monday-Thursday. A morning service will leave from Bognor at 07:02 and is scheduled to arrive in London at 08:58. The return service leaves London Bridge at 18:03 and arrives into the West Sussex coastal town at 19:49. Both services run via Littlehampton and Horsham.

• Additional Southern services will also run between Norwood Junction and London Bridge, calling at all intermediate stations via Sydenham, and also on the route between East Croydon and London Victoria via Selhurst.

• Some changes have also been made on the route between Streatham Hill and London Bridge, via Tulse Hill and Hackbridge, with more services starting from, and being extended to, Sutton.

• Some Thameslink services have been scheduled at different times across the network to allow for better connections.

• There are "no significant" changes to Gatwick Express services.

Southern’s customer services director Jenny Saunders said: “We are pleased to bring in a number of changes for passengers across our network in the new December timetable, having developed it alongside our regular users and key partners.

“Commuters travelling on Southern trains across the south east will feel the benefits with an additional service running between the coast and the capital in rush hour and also to and from East Grinstead in the evenings.”

South Western Railway

South Western Railway's key routes all run through Surrey

South Western Railway's (SWR) principal routes are between London Waterloo and Southampton Central, Portsmouth Harbour and Exeter St David's.

All of these routes run straight through Surrey.

The company said there were "no significant changes to train times" but some trains on main line routes would have extra carriages, to "match capacity to demand".

However, SWR services via Woking will be disrupted on 15 December and between 23 December - 5 January due to engineering work.

Some trains will be diverted and journey times will be significantly longer than usual, so passengers are being advised to plan ahead.

Rail replacement buses will also be in operation.

All train times can be checked on any train operator's journey planner, or on Network Rail's equivalent.