South Western Railway has confirmed a new timetable will be operating from Monday, May 22, to match demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new timetable continues to match capacity demand, with customer numbers at 78% of the total prior to the pandemic.

Additional trains will be affecting train times across the South East and London.

What changes are being made?

To improve the spread of services between Westbury and Yeovil Pen Mill, and to better integrate with Great Western Railway’s new timetable on its Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth route, two changes will be made: 

  • 11.37am Basingstoke-Yeovil Junction via Westbury starts 1 minute later at 11.38am and will terminate at Salisbury instead of Yeovil Junction.
  • A new service, 12.51pm Salisbury-Yeovil Junction via Westbury, will be introduced.

To improve the performance of key trains used by students at schools in the Weybridge and Chertsey areas, the following changes will be made: 

  • 7.23am London Waterloo-Alton starts 3 minutes earlier at 7.20am. 
  • 7.20am London Waterloo-Woking starts 3 minutes earlier at 7.17am. 
  • 7.17am London Waterloo-Chessington South starts 3 minutes later at 7.20am. 
  • 8.03am Weybridge-London Waterloo starts 1 minute earlier at 8.02am. 

To provide better connections in Lymington for ferries to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, two changes will be made: 

  • 9.29am Brockenhurst-Lymington Pier starts 13 minutes later at 9.42am. 
  • 9.44 Lymington Pier-Brockenhurst 13 minutes later at 9.57am. 

To improve the spread of services on the Portsmouth Direct Line, between Portsmouth Harbour and London Waterloo via Guildford, one change will be made: 

  • 6.15am Portsmouth Harbour-London Waterloo starts 5 minutes earlier at 6.10am. 

Performance and planning director for South Western Railway, Steve Tyler, said: “We are confident that our service levels match  demand on the network, but have monitored changes in customer flows and made some minor changes to our timetable. 

“While the majority of our timetable is the same as the one in place, we have made alterations to improve performance and provide better onward travel, such as in Lymington where our services will offer better connectivity with ferries to the Isle of Wight. 

“Our advice to customers is to check before travelling as those changes mean a small number of services will depart slightly earlier, or later, than the December 2022 timetable.”