December 2025 East Coast Timetable

[bramling]

It makes sense to run all assets at all times of the day. The 387s in particular are extremely reliable. It would be crazy to have them stood down, then use the 700s instead.

Agreed. Of the 4x 387 pairs, one stables midday at Hornsey, and the other goes away to Letchworth CS for a few hours. Two pairs run through the midday. The rest of the daytime stopping service is 700/0. There is very little 379 work on the stopping services, and all concentrated at peak times or at the extremes of the day.

There seem to be a couple of services missing, which seem to have been edited out. In particular, there seems to be a missing Letchworth to London stopping service around 0900 in the morning, and same at 1627 in the evening. As the rolling stock seems to be available, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason for this.

 

[eastcoast77]

With the new timetable there's now a direct connection between Darlington and Manors/Cramlington on Sundays.

Realtime Trains | 2A90 0802 Darlington to Morpeth | 28/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2A90 0802 departure from Darlington to Morpeth on 28/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

And the existing Sunday Metrocentre -> Saltburn service now starts from Carlise... giving some interesting journey combinations

Realtime Trains | 1D92 1955 Carlisle to Saltburn | 28/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 1D92 1955 departure from Carlisle to Saltburn on 28/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[OneOfThe48]

There seem to be a couple of services missing, which seem to have been edited out. In particular, there seems to be a missing Letchworth to London stopping service around 0900 in the morning, and same at 1627 in the evening. As the rolling stock seems to be available, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason for this.

They were included in the draft timetables they published last year. I’m sure it will be explained when the finalised timetable is announced

 

[Magdalia]

same at 1627 in the evening.

The 1627 is here, and running through to Cambridge, though shown as STP:

Realtime Trains | 2C44 1627 London Kings Cross to Cambridge | 15/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2C44 1627 departure from London Kings Cross to Cambridge on 15/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

In the draft the 1627 only ran to Letchworth, with a 1654 to Cambridge that is not in RTT.

a missing Letchworth to London stopping service around 0900 in the morning

The draft had 0845 ex Letchworth which is absent on RTT. I would have expected this to be formed with an ecs from Kings Cross.

 

[bramling]

The 1627 is here, and running through to Cambridge, though shown as STP:

Realtime Trains | 2C44 1627 London Kings Cross to Cambridge | 15/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2C44 1627 departure from London Kings Cross to Cambridge on 15/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

In the draft the 1627 only ran to Letchworth, with a 1654 to Cambridge that is not in RTT.


The draft had 0845 ex Letchworth which is absent on RTT. I would have expected this to be formed with an ecs from Kings Cross.

It does seem clear there was intended to be an additional Letchworth and back in the morning (ECS to Letchworth presumably), the stock instead stables in Hornsey a trip early. It seems there’s something similar in the evening.

 

[James90012]

There must be a GN train missing in the morning, there's currently over an hour gap in the morning service between Letchworth / Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City:

Realtime Trains | 2R15 0815 Letchworth to London Kings Cross | 16/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2R15 0815 departure from Letchworth to London Kings Cross on 16/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 2C19 0854 Cambridge to London Kings Cross | 16/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2C19 0854 departure from Cambridge to London Kings Cross on 16/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Failed Unit]

There must be a GN train missing in the morning, there's currently over an hour gap in the morning service between Letchworth / Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City:

Realtime Trains | 2R15 0815 Letchworth to London Kings Cross | 16/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2R15 0815 departure from Letchworth to London Kings Cross on 16/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 2C19 0854 Cambridge to London Kings Cross | 16/12/2025

Real-time train running information for 2C19 0854 departure from Cambridge to London Kings Cross on 16/12/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

In the draft there was a 0845 service. Maybe the joys of someone missing a service. If not they would really be better stopping the 0824. Even with the 0900 WGC - Sevenoaks that is quiet a gap. Yes we still have the Moorgates, however Welwyn North is now getting a better service then the much larger Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

 

[MatthewHutton]

In the draft there was a 0845 service. Maybe the joys of someone missing a service. If not they would really be better stopping the 0824. Even with the 0900 WGC - Sevenoaks that is quiet a gap. Yes we still have the Moorgates, however Welwyn North is now getting a better service then the much larger Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

Also railway politically I assume you want to move people away from Welwyn north as much as possible as it is operationally annoying.

 

[rmHawk765]

It seems frustrating that GTR still hasn't made much of an improvement to the overall shoddy GN timetables post COVID, whether it be due to their everlasting issue with a lack of drivers or simply them being... GTR.

 

[MikeWM]

As far as I can see so far, everything north of Cambridge is 379, haven’t looked at weekends yet.

On balance I’d say this is a fairly negative change overall, though users north of Cambridge will likely appreciate the loss of 700s. I can’t see any other great improvement for GN users to be honest.

It's pretty decent for those of us north of Cambridge, at least on paper. Much better distributed service at Cambridge North in the weekday evening peak (though part of that is due to GA changes too), a significantly earlier first up service on Sunday mornings, the bunching of Ely-Cambridge services (and vice versa) on Sundays is - finally! - mostly fixed, and a slightly later last service every day from Kings Cross to north of Cambridge (though a bit later still would be welcome).

If we get rid of all 700s at Ely too, that's a very nice bonus. Hopefully that will apply on Saturdays too, I might start going to London a bit more again if so.

--

One thing that looks good "on paper" is the down fast Cambridges no longer having to overtake the Brightons between Woolmer Green and Hitchin. My main concern is bunching up of down trains approaching Cambridge.

Yes and yes to those points. I'm really concerned about the punctuality of the down services, which also appears to be the same as in the draft timetables - the stopper arriving at CBG just 4 minutes before the semifast, and then the semifast arriving at CBG just 4 minutes before the fast is due. It doesn't feel like the fasts will get to Cambridge on time terribly often, and then you have all the downstream effects at Ely North Junction and the single line sections towards Kings Lynn that will be caused by these services running late.

 

[trainswitheddy]

Will 225s stop calling at Retford with this timetable? I see the only calls (10:40/12:25 have been removed)

 

[ST156]

The 05.30 ex Doncaster, 1A01, is currently shown as unadvertised. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

21.33 ex King's Cross to Doncaster, 1D33, is displayed in a similar fashion so assume that it allows some flexibility on stock & crew balance changes between now & December.

 

[eastcoast77]

The 05.30 ex Doncaster, 1A01, is currently shown as unadvertised. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

21.33 ex King's Cross to Doncaster, 1D33, is displayed in a similar fashion so assume that it allows some flexibility on stock & crew balance changes between now & December.

Might be wrong but I think a few diagrams have been left as unconfirmed while they wait for the results of the 225 validation run between YRK and NCL. Might give them some options to swap things around if needed

 

[YorkshireBear]

Completely selfishly but the loss of the 07:08 Leeds to Aberdeen loses me basically all my early morning connectivity to the North East for work and will mean the train is no longer an option for several of my regular journeys. Shame it doesn't appear to have been replaced by anything.

 

[leyscjd]

Completely selfishly but the loss of the 07:08 Leeds to Aberdeen loses me basically all my early morning connectivity to the North East for work and will mean the train is no longer an option for several of my regular journeys. Shame it doesn't appear to have been replaced by anything.

0701 Northern Leeds-York provides a robust connection into the Aberdeen service at York. Most people wouldn’t class a 7 minute earlier departure as a “loss of all connectivity”.

 

[800001]

Completely selfishly but the loss of the 07:08 Leeds to Aberdeen loses me basically all my early morning connectivity to the North East for work and will mean the train is no longer an option for several of my regular journeys. Shame it doesn't appear to have been replaced by anything.

0651 from Leeds arrives Newcastle 0825, only 15 minutes earlier from Leeds?
15 minutes difference.

 

[hexagon789]

0651 from Leeds arrives Newcastle 0825, only 15 minutes earlier from Leeds?
15 minutes difference.

Not even that, as mentioned there's an 0701 Leeds to York with a 31 minute into the Aberdeen, which now starts from King's Cross but is otherwise very similar to the current Leeds-Aberdeen from York northwards.

 

[YorkshireBear]

0701 Northern Leeds-York provides a robust connection into the Aberdeen service at York. Most people wouldn’t class a 7 minute earlier departure as a “loss of all connectivity”.

Doesn't stop at Durham or Morpeth which are two of the most regular ones I have to travel to. But granted Berwick is still possible.

The TPE isn't a formal connection from the first train where I live, it should be possible most days but that means you can't get tickets for it.

As I said purely selfish, I'm not pretending anyone else will care, that particular train just happens to very handily suits my current needs perfectly.

I'm not asking for it to be changed back either!

 

[ainsworth74]

The 05.30 ex Doncaster, 1A01, is currently shown as unadvertised. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

21.33 ex King's Cross to Doncaster, 1D33, is displayed in a similar fashion so assume that it allows some flexibility on stock & crew balance changes between now & December.

Might be wrong but I think a few diagrams have been left as unconfirmed while they wait for the results of the 225 validation run between YRK and NCL. Might give them some options to swap things around if needed

Whilst 225 validation might be part of it, I think it's also just to give some flex in the timetable as those services will hopefully run eventually but resource constraints (units, crew and even track!) might prevent it initially whilst the timetable beds in. I wouldn't count on seeing any of the unadvertised services in December or the immediate aftermath (about 9 services I think in total?).

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Whilst 225 validation might be part of it, I think it's also just to give some flex in the timetable as those services will hopefully run eventually but resource constraints (units, crew and even track!) might prevent it initially whilst the timetable beds in. I wouldn't count on seeing any of the unadvertised services in December or the immediate aftermath (about 9 services I think in total?).

Reminds me of when 1N17 and 1N21 were extended to Edinburgh as 1S17 and 1S21. Provisionally planned at a timetable change but actually started sometime in between it and the next timetable change. Similar other changes happened at that time including extra southbound services from Scotland (1E12 and 1E20).

 

[JRT]

Completely selfishly but the loss of the 07:08 Leeds to Aberdeen loses me basically all my early morning connectivity to the North East for work and will mean the train is no longer an option for several of my regular journeys. Shame it doesn't appear to have been replaced by anything.

Depending on whereabouts you're going.

 

[Starmill]

I'm sure LNER at Stevenage wasn't showing as pick up and set down only before..

 

[Deerfold]

I'm sure LNER at Stevenage wasn't showing as pick up and set down only before..

They certainly aren't at the moment. Indeed, some have Advance quotas on them.

I used to enjoy getting LNER to Stevenage, popping to Tesco than resuming my journey one stop North on a local service. They'll have fun enforcing that, at Stevenage, at least.

 

[Chiltern006]

Can’t say I’m surprised to be honest. There are more fast services from over the road

 

[weeklycommuter]

I'm sure LNER at Stevenage wasn't showing as pick up and set down only before..

Real Time Trains shows LNER services as pick up only Northbound and set down only Southbound from the start of the December 2025 timetable but not in the current May 2025 timetable. There are plenty of Thameslink and Great Northern trains between London and Stevenage so it makes sense for the two LNER trains an hour each Northbound and Southbound in the December 2025 timetable that call at Stevenage to be pick up only Northbound and set down only Southbound at Stevenage. The Cambridge-Brighton and Peterborough-Horsham Thameslink trains run non stop between Finsbury Park and Stevenage.

 

[Starmill]

Real Time Trains shows LNER services as pick up only Northbound and set down only Southbound from the start of the December 2025 timetable but not in the current May 2025 timetable. There are plenty of Thameslink and Great Northern trains between London and Stevenage so it makes sense for the two LNER trains an hour each Northbound and Southbound in the December 2025 timetable that call at Stevenage to be pick up only Northbound and set down only Southbound at Stevenage. The Cambridge-Brighton and Peterborough-Horsham Thameslink trains run non stop between Finsbury Park and Stevenage.

Correct but there's a lot of discussions upthread on the basis of these not being so. Which is what I was trying to say.

The only reason it really matters isn't related to frequency and speed anyway, it's PM peak capacity.

 

[bramling]

One change I’ve noticed, on Sundays the King’s Cross to Peterborough service changes from 700/1 to a mixture of 700/0 and 387, all 8-car. This is quite a reduction in capacity. Some of the “tidal flow” extras see 12 cars however.

 

[Deerfold]

There is better connectivity from the North to Stevenage in the morning peak


At the moment the only morning peak LNER trains are the 0858 and 0904.

In the new timetable there's 3 trains stop by 0801, as well as an 0905 and 0920.

 

[greataj]

Generally speaking as well there looks to be some good connectivity to/from Stansted Airport for stations between Stevenage and Royston once Cambridge South comes on the scene. That alone cuts 10mins out of the journey vs having to change at Cambridge.

This makes a lot of sense to me as Stansted is the only other key destination from Cambridge down the WAML besides Tottenham Hale and Liverpool St, which of course would be rather pointless connections given you'd just use Thameslink/GN down to Finsbury Park/Kings X anyway. I don't suppose Stansted is a huge flow currently from the likes of Hitchin, Letchworth and Royston, but certainly makes travel to/from Stansted more attractive than currently which has to be good news.

 

[Deerfold]

Generally speaking as well there looks to be some good connectivity to/from Stansted Airport for stations between Stevenage and Royston once Cambridge South comes on the scene. That alone cuts 10mins out of the journey vs having to change at Cambridge.

This makes a lot of sense to me as Stansted is the only other key destination from Cambridge down the WAML besides Tottenham Hale and Liverpool St, which of course would be rather pointless connections given you'd just use Thameslink/GN down to Finsbury Park/Kings X anyway. I don't suppose Stansted is a huge flow currently from the likes of Hitchin, Letchworth and Royston, but certainly makes travel to/from Stansted more attractive than currently which has to be good news.

Stevenage and Hitchin used to have a 2-hourly express bus to Stansted which I used precisely twice when I lived in Hitchin. There were half a dozen people going all the way to the Airport rather than Bishops Stortford on both occasions.