Commuters will be caught out by revamped rail timetables, warns passenger group

CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns that a revamp of train timetables is likely to leave some passengers bewildered on the station platform.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which is responsible for Great Northern, Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink, is bringing in a new timetable to ease congested transport links. Southeastern, whose parent company is Govia, is also introducing a new timetable.

Passenger groups are worried that many travellers will be unprepared for the changes when they take effect on May 20. Steve Chambers, public transport campaigner at Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Our train system is at full capacity and this is the culmination of many years of planning, and it is vital that now comes into force.

“The only concerns we have is that people will be caught off-guard not knowing about the changes. That is something that is vitally important that the services must ensure is done correctly.”

The revamp, known as RailPlan 20/20, is predicted to create capacity for an extra 40,000 commuters in and out of London at peak times. GTR runs up to 3,200 trains a day – one every 27 seconds – and the times of all of these will change under the improved timetable.

Charles Horton, GTR’s chief executive, said: “A huge number of passengers will notice the benefits in terms of new journeys, better intervals between trains, improved reliability, and more capacity across a wide region.” A spokesman for GTR confirmed that leading up to the switch, train announcements, signs at stations, leaflets and advertising were all being deployed to ensure that customers were not caught off guard come Monday morning.