An additional 29 trains will operate every weekday with an additional service each hour in both directions between Cambridge and Brighton, doubling the frequency of this service at peak times and throughout most of the day. These services will call at stations on the Cambridge branch, Hitchin, Stevenage, through central London and on to Brighton via Gatwick Airport.

With the addition of these services, from Monday 20 May we will be operating 20 trains per hour through central London stations on weekdays.

Other Thameslink services will continue to operate to the current timetable, with additional stops at some Cambridge route stations. There are minor changes to other services, with some trains departing earlier at stations from Royston to Hitchin.

Plan your journey now

Use the journey planner at: nationalrail.co.uk

An additional 180 services will operate on Saturdays.

There will be a new hourly service between Cambridge and Brighton. In addition the service frequency will be doubled on the following routes with: two additional services operate per hour between Bedford and Gatwick Airport and one additional service per hour between Kentish Town and Rainham.

Other Saturday services will continue to operate to the current timetable.

Please check for alterations before you travel, as engineering work often takes place at weekends.

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Use the journey planner at: nationalrail.co.uk

An additional 100 services will operate on Sundays.

There will be a new hourly service between Cambridge and Gatwick Airport. An additional service will also operate each hour on the following routes: between Bedford and Gatwick Airport, Bedford and Three Bridges and between Kentish Town and Rainham. This doubles the frequency of trains between Bedford and Gatwick Airport and Kentish Town and Rainham.

In the afternoon two services per hour will operate between Sutton and St Albans City.

Please check for alterations before you travel, as engineering work often takes place at weekends.

Plan your journey now

Use the journey planner at: nationalrail.co.uk

The Summer timetable starts on Sunday 19 May 2019. We are introducing new services to provide increased capacity between Cambridge and Brighton, as well as expanding our weekend services on Thameslink with a combination of new and restored services.

Most existing journeys will stay the same, but please check your individual journey, as you may be affected by times changing by a few minutes to improve punctuality.

On weekdays, we will introduce a second Thameslink train each hour, between Brighton and Cambridge. There are also new early-morning services between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. The new Thameslink service will provide space for an extra 1,750 people every hour in both directions. In response to passenger feedback we are also adding additional stops on selected services, with Gatwick Express stops at Preston Park and Thameslink stops at Royston, Letchworth and Knebworth.

On Saturdays, an additional 180 trains will operate on Thameslink. This includes a new service between Brighton and Cambridge connecting with Gatwick Airport and through central London. There will also be another fast service each hour between London King’s Cross and Ely. In addition Thameslink services between Bedford and Gatwick Airport and between Kentish Town and Rainham increase to four and two trains per hour respectively.

On Sundays, an additional 100 trains will operate on Thameslink. This includes a new service between Cambridge and Gatwick Airport through central London. We will also increase Thameslink services between Bedford and Gatwick Airport and between Kentish Town and Rainham to four and two trains per hour respectively. Some afternoon Thameslink services between Sutton and Blackfriars will be extended to operate to and from St Albans City.

Plan your individual journey online using the journey planner at nationalrail.co.uk.

Timetable PDFs are available to download below, printed copies will be available at stations from 20 April 2019.

Most existing journeys will stay the same, however to improve connections, punctuality and to reduce the potential for delays, some departures may change by a couple of minutes. Please check before you travel!

Yes. Our Winter timetable was introduced smoothly last December and we are again preparing carefully to ensure a similar positive outcome this time.

Yes. We have submitted our plans for the next timetable change in December 2019. These plans are subject to industry approval. This and future timetable changes will look to balance maximum possible space for passengers with reliability and punctuality.

The timetable is designed to manage the interactions between not only our 3,600+ daily trains, but also with the train services of other train operators. Each train is timed to the nearest 30 seconds to ensure integrated operation with others at junctions, platforms and congested parts of the railway. It is very important that each train has a schedule agreed with Network Rail and is able to run exactly on time.

If we add additional stops to a service we need to allow extra time and even a couple of minutes can change the performance of a large number of trains in an area. As a result, changes may not be permitted under the industry timetable planning rules or may create a risk to performance.

This means that we need to carefully examine even small changes. We have managed to incorporate a selection of these in the Summer Timetable, such as the additional stops at Royston, and for school children in the Worthing area.

Yes. Across our network we have well over 2,000 qualified drivers. We have increased the number of drivers on Thameslink and Great Northern, which has seen the greatest increase in services, by 50% since 2014. Southern has increased 9% since it joined Thameslink and Great Northern in July 2015.

We also have trainee drivers undergoing their training to ensure that drivers are replaced when they leave, and we are looking to recruit more women into the role than ever before. Our driver recruitment campaign is the biggest in the UK.

After a robust selection process, driver training consists of classroom training which lasts six months. This is followed by practical training involving a minimum of 250 hours of one-to-one driving time with an instructor. This typically takes a further six to nine months to become a qualified train driver.

We are currently undertaking the largest training programme in the industry with more than 200 trainees. We have expanded all resources including the classroom facilities, simulators, trainers and instructors to accommodate this programme. We do not need any more trainees at this point.

No, while that is our aim we cannot guarantee this. Our resourcing team work very hard, seven days a week, to ensure there is a driver on every train. However, from time to time we have to cancel trains due to the following:

• An increase in the levels of driver sickness at a depot
• A number of drivers temporarily unable to drive (e.g. following an incident such as a person hit by a train)
• During service disruption (e.g. a signalling fault) it is possible that a delayed driver may not arrive on time to take his or her next train
• A planning error that means we do not have the right driver with the right route or train knowledge to drive the train
• A lack of volunteers available to work one of their rest days when the rostered driver is unavailable

We do. Across our depots we have an appropriate level of qualified drivers. This includes rostering a number of ‘spare’ drivers each day to provide resilience when we have late notice for sickness absence, or during minor disruption.

Many do. In line with other Train Operating Companies we have a voluntary rest day working agreement where drivers can volunteer for additional duties, which either avoid cancellations or provide additional resilience.

Despite operating the largest training programme in the country, it is not possible to train enough drivers quickly enough to simultaneously expand our services and eliminate rest day working. The number of drivers on Thameslink and Great Northern has increased by 50% since 2014 to reflect our expanding services. The standard working week for drivers is four days a week meaning that many choose to work some additional shifts.

Not enough! But the situation is improving. Out of the last 100 trainee drivers that we have recruited, 20 are women. We are actively promoting an increase in diversity across our business and have a target to make sure 40% of all our driver applications are from women by 2021. You can hear the story of one our female drivers in this Evening Standard article. (We are not responsible for the content on third party websites).