More trains will stop at Preston Park in the morning and evening peak from next month, rail bosses have announced.
Thameslink trains will leave Brighton five minutes earlier so that six more morning trains can stop at Preston Park on the way to London.
Six evening trains will now stop there too. This is a doubling of Thameslink trains at that station, from two per hour to four in the peak rush.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) introduces its new timetable from Sunday 10 December. The new times also see more trains stopping at Hassocks.
At Newhaven Harbour, trains between Brighton and Seaford will provide an hourly service all day, stepping up to half-hourly at busier times. This means an almost three-fold increase from 18 to 53 services per day, meeting new demand for this growing area of Newhaven and improving connections with the ferry terminal.
Glynde and Berwick residents wanting to spend evenings in Brighton will be able to stay out an hour and a half longer. The last train from Brighton to Eastbourne on weekdays and Saturdays – the 11:32pm service – will now stop additionally at Glynde and Berwick. Currently the last train serving these stations leaves Brighton at 9.56pm.
Jenny Saunders, GTR’s customer services director, said: “We’re constantly listening to our passengers and local communities, and these improvements are designed to meet demand where they tell us it’s needed most, help communities grow, and attract new customers to rail.”
Additional stops at Preston Park and Hassocks on Brighton-Cambridge Thameslink services:
Morning peak – the current 0614, 0644, 0714, 0744, 0814 and 0844 departures from Brighton to Cambridge are retimed to leave five minutes earlier and call additionally at Hassocks and Preston Park. (They will therefore depart Brighton at 0609, 0639, 0709, 0739, 0809 and 0839.)
In the evening peak, the 1453, 1523, 1553, 1623,1653 and 1724 departures from Cambridge to Brighton will call additionally at Hassocks and Preston Park. These trains will depart from London Bridge to Brighton at 1615, 1645, 1715, 1745, 1815, 1845, arriving in Brighton three minutes later than currently (21 and 51 past the hour rather than 18 and 48).
This will provide both Preston Park and Hassocks with four Thameslink trains per hour to London Bridge in the AM peak and from London Bridge in the PM peak, compared with two per hour today.
The three/four Southern services per hour to and from London Victoria will continue unchanged.
