December 2025 Timetable Change - Confirmed changes only

[Bald Rick]

Is Avanti tomorrow?

Yep

 

[cle]

The following 0755 XC Southampton Central to Newcastle is showing for Monday 15 December 2025. Presumably this confirms the restoration of this one direct XC train a day Southampton Central to Newcastle Monday to Friday in the December 2025 timetable.

This feels very nippy overall - the section times, the run between Leamington and Brum, and the Brum - Derby - Sheffield only pattern too.

Birmingham to Sheffield in 1h01, not sure I can recall that before.

 

[BJames]

Some small but interesting changes for London Overground:

Route retention for the Weaver line (Liverpool street -Enfield Town/Cheshunt) via South Tottenham appears to be dropped with the current parliamentary services at 05:30 Liverpool Street to Enfield Town on Saturdays rerouted to serve all stops via Stamford Hill.
Likewise the 23:42 Enfield Town to LST monday to Thursdays no longer runs via South Tottenham.
It would seem not even any LO ECS are booked over this route anymore

An additional Liverpool Street to Cheshunt service (all stations) at 18:55 - returns ECS to Chingford sidings

Meanwhile on the GOBLIN/Suffragette Line the 2324 from Barking Riverside on a Sunday evening will now run to Willesden Junction instead of Gospel Oak running from Upper Holloway to Hampstead Heath then all stations to Willesden Junction Low Level. Reintroduces a regular timetabled service to the Gospel Oak avoiding lines since the PIXC buster pre-electrification. Also means Hampstead Heath to Willesden Junction gains a later last service on Sundays - 34 mins later than present.

Finally all North London Line services arriving and departing Stratford after 21:00 on Saturday evenings appear to be booked to use platforms 10A or 11, instead of their regular platforms 1 & 2.

Saw this when looking through RTT myself about the route retention via South Tottenham for Weaver line - I find this quite odd since they've had a number of occasions recently where this diversion has been necessary and very helpful. It was only in the last timetable period that they added the southbound 23:42 via South Tottenham (previously only the 05:30 Saturday northbound) so I'm interested that this is the direction they've taken. I wonder if there's anything missing or what the reason is for this - possibly just simply no capacity to divert via South Tottenham anymore?

The other changes to Weaver Line peak services are notable. In an attempt to somewhat balance the timings in the core section there are now uneven headways on Enfield peak time services (e.g. 08:00, 08:18, 08:30, 08:48 departures from Enfield for Liverpool Street in the morning) - this marks the first departure from the 15 minute even peak time headways. However, some good improvements in my opinion, notably a later running of the full 4tph to Enfield to last until 7pm in evening peak northbound (there was never a train at 18:45 from LST for Enfield). These uneven headways are also in evening peak. I will need to refamiliarise myself with my departure and return times home when coming back from work!

 

[A S Leib]

Birmingham to Sheffield in 1h01, not sure I can recall that before.

The 17:28 is scheduled to take 59 minutes and, recently, has been on time 7%, within 5 minutes 37% and within 15 minutes 72% of the time. (Ten minute scheduled wait at New Street; it got there within five minutes 75% of the time.)

 

[bigmanaiq]

When are northerns releasing?

 

[moonarrow458]

Saw this when looking through RTT myself about the route retention via South Tottenham for Weaver line - I find this quite odd since they've had a number of occasions recently where this diversion has been necessary and very helpful. It was only in the last timetable period that they added the southbound 23:42 via South Tottenham (previously only the 05:30 Saturday northbound) so I'm interested that this is the direction they've taken. I wonder if there's anything missing or what the reason is for this - possibly just simply no capacity to divert via South Tottenham anymore?

Indeed it certainly is puzzling and does throw up the question of whether this now amounts to a line closure given that this change results in the total withdrawal of passenger services over the South Tottenham Curves. I saw that Greater Anglia will still have some route retention ECS runs over the route but no passenger services.

And given that the 05:30 ex-LST (SO) and 23:42 ex-ENF (FSX) will from december call at all stations via Stamford Hill and that no LO ECS will use the route this suggests it might be a long term change. If it was only for one timetable change you wouldn't add stops via Stamford Hill onto those 2 services only to remove them 6 months later.

I know that at the previous timetable change when Southern withdrew the 0750 and 0820 Streatham Hill to London Bridge via the Leigham Curve services they discovered this would amount to a line closure so hastily converted an ECS to passenger in the form of the current 1720 Streatham Hill - London Bridge service in order to avoid "closing the line".

So it will be interesting to see what, if anything happens in this case

 

[greataj]

Looks promising that the CrossCounty's through Peterborough seem to connect very well with the LNER King's Cross-Leeds runs in both directions. Let's just hope punctuality makes that reliable.

The CrossCounty calls at Audley End further reduces to just 2 north-bound calls a day (one very early morning and one late evening) with no southbound calls. Currently they still have 3 or 4 trains in each direction which fills some of the the gaps when the Norwich-Stansted's don't run. I can't see that being popular with commuters from the Safron Walden area going to work at Stansted Airport, which does pick up some patronage. Currently they can use the 07:49 CrossCountry from there and take the Greater Anglia Norwich-bound on the return. Now they will have to go via Bishop's Stortford on the morning commute as the first train that leaves Audley End for Stansted won't be until the 10:05 Greater Anglia originating from Norwich.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

Indeed it certainly is puzzling and does throw up the question of whether this now amounts to a line closure given that this change results in the total withdrawal of passenger services over the South Tottenham Curves. I saw that Greater Anglia will still have some route retention ECS runs over the route but no passenger services.

GA sometimes use it for passenger services in disruption

 

[-Colly405-]

i see that 1L98, XC's 0625 BRI-SSD, has reappeared after a 6 month absence...

 

[Jaydubya]

Looks like that Victoria to Orpington via Herne Hill is still only half hourly on Saturdays (and Sundays). I thought I’d read previously somewhere else that it was going back to 15 mins on Saturdays at least. I assume it’s a lack of train crew to operate it reliably as trains always appear busy on both days.

 

[Magdalia]

I can't see that being popular with commuters from the Safron Walden area going to work at Stansted Airport, which does pick up some patronage.

What evidence is there of significant amounts of Saffron Walden-Stansted Airport commuting by rail via Audley End?

The one way flow Audley End-Stansted Airport is about 8000.

A full time commuter makes about 200 journeys per year.

If all of the Audley End-Stansted Airport flow was full time commuters, that would be about 40 people.

The station that has significant amounts of Stansted Airport commuting by rail is Bishops Stortford where the one way flow is 80000, ten times the size of Audley End.

Another important factor to bear in mind with commuting to and from Stansted Airport is that it is not confined to office hours. Flight crew, for example, can often seen in uniform at Bishops Stortford, and spread throughout the day.

From Audley End the key commuting flows are to Liverpool Street (184k, plus another 44k for Tottenham Hale) and Cambridge (67k), not Stansted Airport.

 

[TFN]

On Saturdays, Elizabeth line’s frequency increases to 20tph during the day between Whitechapel and Paddington with:

10 to Abbey Wood, 8 to Shenfield and 2 to Gidea Park.

I haven’t had a look beyond Paddington yet.

Interesting that off peak frequencies will be higher on Saturdays than Mon-Fri.

 

[London Trains]

Do they yet have the rolling stock they would need to make changes to services? I seem to remember talk of a service recast in the future, rather than restoration of an old timetable in any case.

The obvious priority as 701s come in would appear to be to offload 455s rather than increase the service levels.

Surely by December they will have sufficient rolling stock, especially considering many of the services missing already run at peak times so the actual increase in units needed will be minimal, its just that they will need to have improved reliability (which should come with the 701s) as more units will be out all day.

There is no reason off-peak frequencies should be less than they were pre-Covid, considering leisure travel has not decreased in the way that commuting has. And before anyone says that SWR has seen decreases in passenger numbers, maybe it should be considered that the massive frequency cuts as well as the very poor reliability of SWR services are exactly the reasons why passenger numbers have not recovered.

 

[Peter0124]

On Saturdays, Elizabeth line’s frequency increases to 20tph during the day between Whitechapel and Paddington with:

10 to Abbey Wood, 8 to Shenfield and 2 to Gidea Park.

I haven’t had a look beyond Paddington yet.

Interesting that off peak frequencies will be higher on Saturdays than Mon-Fri.

That makes sense considering off peak wise I believe Saturday is the busiest day of the week especially when stations like Tottenham Court Road and Stratford are on the route

 

[Watershed]

On Saturdays, Elizabeth line’s frequency increases to 20tph during the day between Whitechapel and Paddington with:

10 to Abbey Wood, 8 to Shenfield and 2 to Gidea Park.

I haven’t had a look beyond Paddington yet.

Interesting that off peak frequencies will be higher on Saturdays than Mon-Fri.

Looks like the frequency out west remains unchanged; no surprises there, though the incredibly high loadings even beyond the traditional peaks suggests it really should be reviewed.

The frequency increase comes from new Paddington-Abbey Wood services at xx15 and xx45, and Paddington-Gidea Park ones at xx12 and xx42. Effectively bridging the gap between the 'bunched up' Heathrow and Maidenhead/Reading services.

 

[MikeWM]

i see that 1L98, XC's 0625 BRI-SSD, has reappeared after a 6 month absence...

I've not specifically seen complaints about it, but I imagine the gap in Birmingham-Leicester services that was introduced by this service being removed, between 0752 and 0852, was rather unpopular. This nicely plugs it again.

 

[gomango]

Another minor change for Scotrail that Polmont's Glasgow to Edinburgh stops increase to 2tph on a Sunday, currently only 1tph stops in each direction on a Sunday.

 

[SWT_USER]

Surely by December they will have sufficient rolling stock, especially considering many of the services missing already run at peak times so the actual increase in units needed will be minimal, its just that they will need to have improved reliability (which should come with the 701s) as more units will be out all day.

There is no reason off-peak frequencies should be less than they were pre-Covid, considering leisure travel has not decreased in the way that commuting has. And before anyone says that SWR has seen decreases in passenger numbers, maybe it should be considered that the massive frequency cuts as well as the very poor reliability of SWR services are exactly the reasons why passenger numbers have not recovered.

Totally agree with this. SWR's reintroduction of services has been painfully slow compared to how quickly they were cut.

SWR cut 50% of off-peak services on some routes and then then we're told passenger numbers haven't recovered. Funny that, I wonder why

If they'd been running the pre COVID timetable I suspect passengers would be more understanding of cuts to services to help the introduction of new stock. As it is some routes that were 4tph of 10 carriages pre COVID will now be 1tph with 8 carriages (if they are lucky).

Rant over... Presumably the easiest we will see the return of the off peak Hounslow loop services is December 2026 now? And the same for the evening Reading services?

 

[Bald Rick]

Rant over... Presumably the easiest we will see the return of the off peak Hounslow loop services is December 2026 now? And the same for the evening Reading services?

Recast won’t be next year.

 

[SWT_USER]

Recast won’t be next year.

Does it need a full recast just to slot back in services cut during COVID? Surely it can't be that difficult to reintroduce them

 

[devon_belle]

Recast won’t be next year.

Is that just the suburban or the mainline too? Friends at SWR seem to think different.

 

[davehsug]

When are northerns releasing?

As soon as Hans Christan Andersen & the Grimm Brothers have finished writing it!

 

[London Trains]

Avanti, c2c, Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Northern, Southern, Thameslink and TfW Rail left.

All up now by the looks of it.

 

[Killingworth]

As soon as Hans Christan Andersen & the Grimm Brothers have finished writing it!

One token Northern train between Huddersfield and Sheffield has been on for several days!

 

[A S Leib]

I'm guessing that the 07:16 Euston to Glasgow via the West Midlands is staying and just isn't in systems yet? Also interesting to see Lumo Stirling paths in, under LF rather than LD.

 

[PGAT]

An extra service to/from London Bridge via Anerley in the morning and evening peaks it seems

 

[Thomas6187]

Avanti have introduced a 22:14 departure from Piccadilly to Euston, arriving at 01:13. Interestingly, the departures from Manchester now depart 1 minute earlier on the public TT, compared the the current TT. The exception is the 0700 Piccadilly-Euston

 

[A S Leib]

Given the shift to nonstop Coventry services for London – West Midlands – Scotland, I'm glad to see that all of the current evening Watford and Milton Keynes calls from Preston are staying.

 

[TrainzBK]

I believe the Northern timetable may receive an update at some point

 

[Peter0124]

I'm guessing that the 07:16 Euston to Glasgow via the West Midlands is staying and just isn't in systems yet? Also interesting to see Lumo Stirling paths in, under LF rather than LD.

It will be yeah, same for 9S65 (11:38)