Today (14th December) sees the start of the Winter timetables on the lines operated by Govia Thameslink, which include the Great Northern services out of Kings Cross and Moorgate.. Despite the publicity about "thousands more seats" on Great Northern trains, the improvements for commuters travelling from Palmers Green are far from dramatic: four weekday evening trains will have six carriages instead of three and "some of the busiest" services on Saturdays will have six carriages too.
Further changes will occur in December 2015 and in 2018. The 2018 changes should provide a marked improvement. New trains will be introduced and at offpeak times and all day on Saturdays and Sundays there will be four trains an hour. At Finsbury Park passengers will be able to change to trains running through the Thameslink tunnels via St Pancras, Blackfriars and stations right the way to the south coast.
Rail passengers are currently being consulted about the proposed new timetable that will start in December 2015. A major change will be that trains will run into Moorgate between 6am and midnight seven days a week, providing direct services to the now busy Old Street area and cross-platform changes to the Victoria Line at Highbury & Islington. However, it appears that Govia are not planning any increase in the frequency of services on the Hertford line, meaning that Saturdays and Sundays will still see only two trains an hour.
The information below is an excerpt from the 2015 changes consultation document:
Great Northern (Inner)
- Letchworth Garden City, Stevenage, Hertford North to London
- Welwyn Garden City to London
Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
Currently services on this route before 0630, after 2200 Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturdays and Sundays operate to and from London Kings Cross. It is proposed that services between approximately 0600 and midnight will operate after Finsbury Park to Moorgate serving Drayton Park, Highbury & Islington, Essex Road and Old Street.
As previously consulted by the Department for Transport and subsequently specified as part of the franchise, it is the intention that the majority of these early morning, late evening and weekend train services will operate to and from Moorgate instead of using London Kings Cross as the terminus station. This is in recognition of previous stakeholder requests following the increasing late night and weekend activity in the Old Street and Moorgate areas and also allowing much improved connectivity arising from key interchanges with the London Overground at Highbury & Islington and as well as continued London Underground connections at Highbury & Islington and Moorgate.
Aside from these changes, there are no proposed revisions to train services on these routes in December 2015.
Looking forward to 2018
From 2018 customers on this route will benefit from 150 brand new vehicles forming 25 6-carriage trains to deliver much needed capacity enhancements through additional services both during peak times and during the day. In conjunction with the increased capacity, there will also be additional peak train service to Moorgate, increasing the frequency on the route.
During off peak periods Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturdays and Sundays there will be an increase from two (Saturdays and Sundays) or three (weekdays) to four trains per hour between Herford North, Welwyn Garden City and Moorgate. Train services between Hertford North and Stevenage will also be increased from one to two trains per hour providing a better service for Watton-at-Stone and more connections with other train services at Stevenage.
From this time, services from the Herford North route will no longer operate north of Stevenage with trains taking advantage of a new terminating platform provided by Network Rail. This is aimed to improve performance both on the Hertford North route, enable additional Thameslink trains north of Stevenage towards Cambridge and provide the capability for more frequent services throughout the entire route.
The proposed changes to train services in 2018 will be consulted nearer the time once further development work concludes.
Links
- Summary of December 2014 Great Northern timetable changesSummary of December 2014 Great Northern timetable changes
- Public consultation about December 2015 timetables changes (deadline for responding - 30 January 2015)
- Consultation document (PDF)
- Complete timetable for the Hertford Line (PDF)
