Southern: Passengers get up to 5,000 extra seats a day as train operator uses customer feedback to redesign West Coastway timetable

The improvements to weekday and Saturday schedules include new and more frequent services with expanded capacity on busier routes, evenly spaced departures to cut waiting times, and better reliability and punctuality.

These improvements will encourage existing customers to make more journeys, and attract new passengers, including people currently using congested roads such as the A27/M27.

More details available here: www.southernrailway.com/westcoastway.

The main changes, to be introduced from Monday, June 3, are:

The number of trains between Brighton, Worthing and Chichester will be doubling from two to four an hour (one of these trains will go via Littlehampton), Monday to Saturday, creating more than 5,000 extra seats every day:

– As part of this, services between Brighton and Southampton will double in frequency from hourly to half-hourly to meet demand on this route, and will be faster, with an extra stop at Woolston for easy connections with the local bus networks.

– There will be a new hourly, all-stations Brighton to Littlehampton and Chichester. This will link Brighton and Littlehampton with an all-day service for the first time since 2007

– Southern will also retain the hourly Brighton to Portsmouth service

London to Portsmouth services via Gatwick Airport will double in frequency from hourly to half-hourly, and will be extended to Portsmouth Harbour for better connections to local ferry services and attractions

Departures will be more evenly spaced so customers don’t have to wait so long for a train

To allow these frequency increases on routes with higher demand, four service groups will be withdrawn:

– The hourly Southampton to London Victoria service via Horsham and Gatwick Airport. Customers travelling from Southampton towards Horsham and Gatwick Airport can connect to a four-trains-per-hour service from the same platform at Barnham, using the new half-hourly Southampton to Brighton service.

– The hourly Littlehampton-Bognor Regis service. Customers will now change at Barnham from the hourly Brighton to Chichester via Littlehampton service.

– The hourly Littlehampton-Portsmouth & Southsea service. Customers will now change at Barnham from the hourly Brighton to Chichester via Littlehampton service.

– The half-hourly Brighton to Hove shuttle service. This is replaced by the new half-hourly Brighton to Southampton service and new Brighton to Chichester / Portsmouth & Southsea services, creating a frequency of four trains per hour.

Jenny Saunders, Southern’s customer services director, said: “We are making these changes to give passengers more trains and many more seats on our more popular routes. Services will be much more frequent, more punctual, faster in some cases, and more reliable right across the network. There will be less waiting for trains as well because we’ll space out the services more evenly.

“These improvements for the vast majority of our customers along the coastal route will encourage greener travel on our electric trains, tourism and employment, boosting local communities and economies from Southampton to Brighton.”

Southern finalised the changes following a three-month public engagement programme undertaken last summer, taking into account the hundreds of comments received from passengers and local communities.

Saunders added: “We considered every response carefully and, to better serve our customers’ needs, we’ve made eight main amendments to our original proposals, and incorporated hundreds of smaller changes to the times of individual trains.”

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: “It's vital that our railways stay up-to-date and reflect what passengers want. These changes, which come following feedback from local communities, will deliver better services for more people across the South.”

The most significant amendments Southern have made in response to public feedback are to retain direct hourly services between Brighton and Portsmouth, which were initially to be withdrawn; to improve connectivity for intermediate stations between Chichester and Havant; to provide a new, later last train from Portsmouth to Chichester; and adjustments to schedules and stopping patterns as requested by schools, parents and shift workers.

Development of the timetable was led by Southern, working closely with partners at Network Rail, South Western Railway, Great Western Railway and freight operators to create an integrated plan for the area.

Full details on all the changes can be found on the Southern website at www.southernrailway.com/westcoastway.

The new timetable is expected to be available in journey planners on the Southern website or National Rail Enquiries from Monday, March 11.