Forum topic: More frequent trains from May, but the complete new service will be delayed until December 2019

Govia Thameslink Railway has published a report on the third phase of its Monday-to-Friday fugture timetables consultation, along with complete Monday-to-Friday timetables.  The first improvements to service frequency will be introduced on Sunday 20th May, but it appears that we will now have to wait until December 2019 before frequencies reach those promised in the consultations:

"The timetables we consulted on are the “end position” – originally this was December 2018 but due to the phasing, announced in late 2017, the final timetable will be introduced by December 2019."

The new timetables come with a caveat:  they are only "intended as a guide and we may need to make changes".

Four trains an hour off peak

From May the off peak daytime and evening service to and from Palmers Green will be increased to four trains an hour, at 15 minute intervals.  Two of of these will be all stations Moorgate to Hertford North, the other two will be Moorgate to Watton at Stone, missing out Crews Hill and Bayford - thus those two stations will actually see a decrease in offpeak trains.  One train an hour will run as far as Stevenage until December, when it will be replaced by a bus service from Watton at Stone.

New connections at Finsbury Park

From May it will be possible to change at Finsbury Park onto Thameslink services serving St Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars and London Bridge.  If the National Rail journey planner is to be believed, these trains will run from Platform 2 at Finsbury Park, while Moorgate trains will call at Platform 1 - therefore, changing trains will be very easy.  However, the service will not be particularly frequent - two to three trains an hour.  There will be easy connections (same platform) at St Pancras, Farringdon, City Thamelink and Blackfriars) to Thameslink services to various south London destinations and to Gatwick Airport and the South Coast.

Grange Park services

A controversial issue during the consultations has been the proposed frequency of trains serving Grange Park.  The consultation report includes the following:

"You said:  Campaign to increase services at Grange Park

"We're doing:  Unfortunately this is not possible at this stage. The current level of service will be maintained during the peak. Off peak there will be an increase from 3 tph to 4 tph."

New trains

We'll have to put up with the current very scruffy trains for some months yet.

"The new 717 trains will provide a metro-style layout with more capacity, improved reliability, air conditioning and passenger information systems that can be remotely updated to provide real-time travel information. These trains will be introduced towards the end of 2018 and by May 2019 will provide much needed capacity on the route."

Word is that the new trains are likely to have rather hard, longitudinal seats, but in other ways they will clearly be a big improvement.  And they will certainly be much smarter externally.  (I really don't think it's good enough for Govia not to have repainted the trains that they inherited from First Capital Connect.  Just compare them with the smartly refurbished trains dating from the same time that London Overground run between Liverpool Street and Cheshunt/Chingford.)

What's next?

The newly publshed timetables carry a prominent warning on every page:  "Major changes during this timetable, check before you travel".  So they may not be an entirely reliable guide to what will actually happen.  As anyone using Palmers Green station will be only too aware, there are still frequent cancellations - mainly at weekends - due to a shortage of drivers and in spite of GTR's claim to be running the largest ever driver training programme.  So four trains an hour off peak might turn out to be overambitious at this stage - let's hope not.

GTR are promising to publish an "update on the feedback on the weekend consultation" in June.  In early September they will be reviewing the May 2018 timetable and updating on "any changes required", and at the end of September they promise to have the new December 2018 timetable included in National Rail Enquiries journey planners.

A couple of months ago GTR were promising us four trains an hour on Saturdays from May.  There's no sign of that in the Journey Planner as yet, so we'll have to wait and see...