New timetable for UK’S busiest train network may ‘cut services by a third’

♦Rail commuters face losing up to a third of scheduled services under a mass timetable shake-up, campaigners have claimed.

More than four million trains will be rescheduled from Sunday, in an overhaul designed to increase overall frequencies and reliability, but some passengers will find their regular journeys are no longer possible.

Departure times will change for every train run by the UK’S busiest franchise – Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – which consists of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express. There will be almost 400 additional GTR trains every day.

However, some passengers from counties surrounding London say they are about to be hit with fewer or slower services. Emily Ketchin, Harpenden Thameslink Commuters group founder, claims the operator is “slashing key Harpenden services by a third”. She said: “This is going to have a real impact on people’s ability to get to work, especially working parents.”

GTR said: “We are introducing the biggest ever change to rail timetables to significantly boost capacity on the UK’S most congested network. We strongly advise passengers to look up train times from May 20.”