Passengers on key Southeastern routes between London, Maidstone, Canterbury and the Kent Coast are set to benefit from journey time reductions of up to four minutes, with early morning commuters from Gravesend also benefitting from two new services.
The main benefit of the changes that Southeastern is bringing forward will be journey time reductions on various routes, allowing a few minutes to be given back every day to many passengers across the network.
David Statham, Southeastern’s Managing Director said:
“We’re always wanting to do more for our passengers, and these changes will mean that commuters using our services in places like Ashford, Maidstone, Canterbury, Dover, and Bromley will get a few minutes back every day.
“Wherever possible, we’re going to be filling in gaps in service provision where they currently exist, with several areas seeing benefits as a result of the changes we are bringing forward.
“Bromley South will see a better spread of services in the morning peak to Victoria, and there will be additional stops and services at some stations where the current timetable has gaps. We’re also ensuring that key trains used by schoolchildren have enough time allocated in the timetable to make everyone can get on that needs to.”
The following routes and their stations will benefit from journey time reductions, or other changes, on some or all of the services that call there (note this list is not exhaustive):
| Route | Benefit | Faster journey times for |
| Ashford International-London Victoria | A 1-3 minute journey time reduction on a large number of services, at all stations on the route. | Maidstone East
East Malling Borough Green & Wrotham Otford Bromley South and other stations |
| Canterbury West-London Victoria | A 1-3 minute journey time reduction on a large number of services, at all stations along the route. | Chilham
Ashford International Maidstone East East Malling Borough Green & Wrotham, Swanley Bromley South and other stations |
| Dover Priory-London Victoria | A 1-4 minute journey time reduction on a large number of services, at all stations along the route, | Snowdown
Aylesham Canterbury East Faversham Sittingbourne Rainham Chatham Rochester Bromley South and other stations |
| Ramsgate-London Victoria | A 1-4 minute journey time reduction on a large number of services, at all stations along the route. | Margate
Herne Bay Whitstable Faversham Sittingbourne Gillingham Rochester Bromley South and other stations |
| Gravesend-London Charing Cross/London Cannon Street | Two new services added at 04:55 and 05:25, starting back at Gravesend to benefit commuters arriving in London for 06:00 or 07:00 starts.
Additional stop at Stone Crossing on the 06:14 Gravesend-London Cannon Street. Additional stop at Stone Crossing on the 17:25 London Cannon Street-Gravesend. |
Gravesend
Greenhithe for Bluewater Stone Crossing Dartford Lewisham London Bridge London Charing Cross |
| Tonbridge-Strood | Additional stops for passengers at stations between Maidstone and Strood – allowing better connections to fast services into London nearly 30 minutes earlier in the morning. | Aylesford
New Hythe Snodland Halling Cuxton |
| Bromley South-London Victoria | Better spread of services in the morning peak to Victoria, including a 6-minute journey time reduction on the 05:56 Ramsgate-Bromley South, allowing this service to arrive six minutes earlier and provide a more even distribution of fast services to London Victoria for commuters between 07:00-08:00 | Ramsgate
Bromley South and other stations |
| Canterbury West-London Victoria | Additional, later service provided at 22:12 | Canterbury West
and other stations |
| Teynham | Additional stop for the 17:10 London Victoria-Dover Priory to resolve a large gap in services in the evening peak. | Teynham
and other stations |
| London Cannon Street-Margate
Four additional carriages on the 17:09 London Cannon Street to Margate |
Four additional carriages added following feedback around crowding of services.
As a result, the 18:45 London Charing Cross-Hastings service, a service that currently has ample capacity, will be reduced by four carriages. |
London Cannon Street
London Bridge and other stations |
More detail can be found Southeastern’s May 2019 Timetable – Highlights and Response to Feedback report.
The timetable changes are all now live on online journey planners, including the Southeastern and National Rail websites, with printed timetable booklets available from Southeastern stations and from Customer Services in the week commencing April 8.
More detail on changes being made to rail timetables nationally can be found on the Rail Delivery Group website.
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