Temporary Timetable Changes

With the reintroduction of lockdown, train companies have worked with government to plan amended timetables, focussing on morning and evening peak travel times so that those who need to take essential journeys can get to where they need to and have the space to maintain social distancing. The new changes to timetables have been made in such a way that rail services can be restored as quickly as possible when restrictions are eased.

Normally, the timetable for any particular day is confirmed 12 weeks in advance. For a temporary period Network Rail isn’t able to do this, instead confirming timetables approximately 5 weeks in advance.  This means that for some routes online journey planners, including National Rail Enquiries, will not be completely accurate until approximately 5 weeks before travel.

What does this mean for customers?

For the overwhelming majority of customers there is no impact, particularly if they travel Mondays to Fridays other than in the late evening.

Timetables

Where engineering work is taking place, details about the train times and schedules for any replacement buses will not be available until approximately 5 weeks before. Be aware that the normal timetable will show in journey planners up until this point. Where we are aware that the timetable is not yet correct, the National Rail Enquiries journey planner will show a yellow warning triangle against the trains concerned.

Advance tickets

Customers are advised to try and book as normal. Advance tickets for many routes will still go on sale 12 weeks in advance, but where they don’t will be available from approximately 5 weeks before the date of travel. Many train companies let customers sign up through their website to receive an email when Advance tickets go on sale. National Rail Enquiries also has information about the latest availability of Advance tickets, which can be found here.

Where it is not possible to book tickets 12 weeks in advance as usual, train operators will still offer the same range of discounted Advance tickets – they will just go on sale later.

If customers buy a ticket on a train that is subsequently cancelled, rescheduled, or where a seat reservation will not be honoured, they can decide not to travel and have a full refund with no administration fee.

Where Advance tickets have not yet gone on sale, customers can still buy Anytime, Off‐Peak and Super Off‐Peak tickets where they are available. If customers buy one of these and later discover a cheaper Advance ticket on sale for the same journey, they should book the Advance ticket and ask for a refund on the original ticket – there will be no admin fee.

Latest information – by train company

Please find below an overview for each train company of whether the timetable showing in journey planners in the coming weeks is accurate: