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Network Rail have issued the following press release about planned engineering work affecting Southern and Thameslink services over the early May bank holiday weekend:

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), has launched a national poetry competition in partnership with Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho.

Work to improve the passenger experience at London Victoria station is almost complete with new ticket gates set to come into use between spring and summer

Network Rail have issued the following press release about planned engineering work in South London in February, much of which is being re-planned for later in the year:

Initiatives include UK rail’s first cooperative solar energy project that generates power for Southern Rail and income for community development

Train company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has introduced short-stay parking at Kenley station in response to a suggestion by a Croydon Borough councillor.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has introduced a trial of new short-stay parking rates at three Sussex stations. The operator of Southern and Thameslink train services hopes the new flexible charges will prove popular among town-centre visitors.

Network Rail have issued the following press release about planned engineering work on the Brighton Main Line that means there will be no trains between Purley and Gatwick Airport over the weekend of 20 and 21 January.

The UK’s largest rail operator is once again teaming up with Samaritans to flip ‘Blue Monday’ on its head and turn what is commonly believed to be the most difficult day of the year, into something positive.

Next week’s planned Tube strikes will close or partly close eight stations on the Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern network, because some are operated by London Underground.

Five young Mid-Sussex people with learning difficulties have enjoyed a ‘Try a Train’ trip with Southern, boosting their knowledge and confidence to use train services independently.

Rail passengers can now skip standing in line at stations for a ticket to ride by using pre-bought smartphone eTickets right across the vast 11-county Govia Thameslink Railway network.

Customers must check every journey, every day as services will run to different timetables each day

Passengers at five Sussex stations will have more trains to choose from when Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) introduces its new timetable from Sunday 10 December.

Network Rail has issued the following press release following the completion of the new concourse at Gatwick Airport station

Rail passengers in South London are being advised to plan ahead as Network Rail completes a major signalling upgrade in February 2024.

The UK’s largest rail company, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), has partnered with charity, Missing People, to support its mission to find and help the 170,000 people who are reported missing every year in the UK.

For travel on or after 10 December, journey planners such as www.nationalrail.co.uk have already been updated to include the new train times so customers can plan their journeys.As an overview, most train services are unchanged in the new timetable. However, in certain locations, we are making small changes and improvements to our timetables in response to stakeholder and customer feedback.This will mean that some customers will see extra trains to reflect increased demand, such as in Harpenden and East Grinstead, extra stops to improve connections, such as in Preston Park and Hassocks, or extra carriages to provide more space on trains for customers, such as in the Sutton area.There are though also changes to the Southern service between Redhill and Tonbridge to better align its weekday service to demand. This will see the service run as hourly for most of the day, with some additional services during trains at school and peak times.We have worked hard with local stakeholders and rail user groups on this route to best schedule our services around key times, such as school start and finish times, to minimise any effect the reduction in service could have on customer journeys as far as we can.Across our network as a whole though, our new timetable will see small improvements being delivered thanks to stakeholder feedback and collaboration, leading to improved services for customers.The briefing below explains the changes coming in the Winter timetable in more detail but, as always, should you have any questions or ideas for future improvements, please do get in touch. The December Timetable 2023 comes into effect from Sunday 10 December 2023. The summary below describes the main changes, but as with all timetable changes, we will be encouraging customers to check and plan their journeys using a journey planner such as at www.nationalrail.co.uk.SouthernRedhill to TonbridgeThe current Monday to Friday timetable is formed of an hourly off-peak service and a half-hourly peak and school time service. At weekends, the service is hourly all day.Following a review, the Monday to Friday service will now be hourly at all times, with some additional services targeted at school and peak times, with school traffic being the main source of use on the route.The weekend service will remain hourly, but there will be some changes to early morning and late evening train times.As it is a fresh timetable, we have not listed every individual change, but would encourage customers to check and plan their journeys using a journey planner such as at www.nationalrail.co.ukWest London LineIn response to customer and stakeholder requests, on weekdays, there will be an additional service extended from Watford Junction to Hemel Hempstead and back.The 10:10 East Croydon to Watford Junction is now extended to Hemel Hempstead to arrive 11:28.The 11:52 Watford Junction to East Croydon will start from Hemel Hempstead at 11:38.Horsham / Dorking to London Victoria via HackbridgeOn weekdays the 08:17 Horsham to London Victoria Southern via Hackbridge service will be lengthened from 5 cars to 8 cars owing to high demand on this train. This will bring it into line with the remainder of the morning peak which are 8 or 10 carriage services.Previously, several Saturday trains on the route were lengthened from 5 cars to 8 or 10 cars in stages in September and October to address some high use on individual trains.Brighton to EastbourneThere will be additional stops at Glynde and Berwick on the last train from Brighton to Eastbourne, Monday to Saturday, departing Brighton at 23:32 following customer requests.Brighton to SeafordAdditional weekday station stops will be introduced at Newhaven Harbour to create an hourly service, increased to half-hourly at busier times.ThameslinkBedford to East Grinstead / Three Bridges / Elephant & CastleA set of connected changes are being introduced to provide additional peak time capacity between Bedford and St Pancras International, and an additional off-peak service between East Grinstead and London. A new service, formed of an 07:15 Bedford to Three Bridges service will run. This will provide an additional faster service for journeys towards central London with calls at Leagrave, Luton, Harpenden and St Albans. The existing 07:03 Bedford to Three Bridges service (arriving Three Bridges 08:59) will now run to East Grinstead. This will create an 09:14 East Grinstead to London Bridge service, arriving 10:10. The existing 07:11 Bedford to Elephant & Castle service will now start at Luton at 07:31. Brighton to CambridgeIn response to stakeholder requests, there will be additional stops at Preston Park and Hassocks on the Brighton to Cambridge Thameslink services in the AM and PM peaks.In the morning the current 06:14, 06:44, 07:14, 07:44, 08:14 and 08:44 from Brighton to Cambridge are retimed to leave 5 mins earlier and call at Hassocks and Preston Park.This will mean that they will depart Brighton at 06:09, 06:39, 07:09, 07:39, 08:09 and 08:39.In the evening peak, the 14:53, 15:23, 15:53, 16:23,16:53 and 17:24 departures from Cambridge to Brighton will call at Hassocks and Preston Park. From London Bridge, it will be departures to Brighton at 1615, 1645, 1715, 17:45, 1815, 1845. These services will arrive into Brighton three minutes later than currently (21 and 51 rather than 18 and 48).This will provide both Preston Park and Hassocks four trains per hour to/from London Bridge in the AM and PM peaks, compared to two trains per hour today.Great NorthernThere are no changes planned for Great Northern services in December 2023.

Many of you will have seen the news following Transport Focus and London TravelWatch’s response to the ticket office consultation, published this morning and I wanted to ensure you have the correct information as I know there are some very strong views about the proposals.Over the summer a local public consultation was run with Transport Focus and London TravelWatch on proposals about how tickets are sold on the railway and customer service.Many of you took part in that consultation and we would like to thank you for making your feedback available to us and the passenger bodies to support their work and we know it has been immensely valuable.Today, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch have updated us they are supportive of the principle of redeploying staff from ticket offices to improve the overall offer for customers.However, they have also made clear that they are not able to approve these changes as there is feedback related to the railway as a whole which has not been completely addressed. We always made clear that this was a genuine consultation and as a result, following the process of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, all proposals have been withdrawn and will not be introduced.The consultation did, however, raise interesting ideas on related issues, such as expanding the types of products that can be sold at ticket machines. Where possible, with the wider industry we will look to introduce ideas such as this.