Great Northern and Thameslink rail services at the southern end of the East Coast Main Line, and associated branches, connect London and key cities in the East of England, including Cambridge, King’s Lynn and Peterborough.
We have been working with our partners across the rail industry, including Network Rail, to introduce improvements to our East Coast Main Line timetable, for introduction in December 2025.
Here, you will find out more about planned improvements to our Great Northern and Thameslink services on the East Coast Main Line – and associated branches – from December 2025.
Summary of planned changes
From December 2025, Great Northern and Thameslink customers will benefit from:
- More peak time services between Cambridge, Letchworth Garden City and London King’s Cross, including a new Letchworth to London King’s Cross stopping peak time service, calling additionally at New Barnet, to create more space for customers
- New departures at Hertford North, Bayford, Cuffley and Crews Hill in the morning peak
- Additional early morning peak time services between Peterborough and London King’s Cross. (Great Northern has already introduced two additional services per peak in the June and December 2024 timetable changes to give customers more space while awaiting the wider ECML recast)
- Faster journey times to London from key locations such as King's Lynn and Cambridge, as well as stations along the route, including Foxton, Knebworth and Welwyn North
- More evenly spaced departure times to make services more convenient to use
- All Thameslink and Great Northern services between Cambridge and central London have provision to call at the new Cambridge South station when it opens
When will the planned changes be introduced?
The majority of these changes will be introduced in the December 2025 timetable.
What will the new train times be?
You can download the new timetables – both for Great Northern and Thameslink services – and other operators who have services on the East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and the North of England and Scotland, including LNER, here, from 21 November 2024: https://ecmltimetable.info
To see what these changes mean for your station, visit https://ecmltimetable.info, where you will be able to see what is changing – by station – from December 2025.
Please note: the information on timetables and new train times may be subject to change as all operators go through the timetable planning process.
When will we be able to see the new timetables in Journey Planners?
In line with wider timetable changes across our routes, the new services will be available in Journey Planners from Autumn 2025. For a summary of key planned changes, please see below.
Key planned changes to Great Northern
Cambridge to London King’s Cross - Monday to Friday
A new two trains per hour service will run in peak hours to provide a faster journey time between London and stations between Cambridge and Welwyn North.
This service will run Cambridge to London King’s Cross calling at Foxton, Shepreth, Meldreth, Royston, Ashwell & Morden, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn North only. It will call additionally at Knebworth in the evening peak, departing from London King’s Cross. In the morning peak, the Peterborough to Horsham Thameslink services will call additionally at Knebworth to provide a faster journey to London St Pancras and central London.
Letchworth Garden City to London King’s Cross - Monday to Friday
There will be two extra fast services each hour to/from London King’s Cross in the morning and evening peaks, calling at Hitchin, Stevenage, Knebworth, Welwyn North, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Potters Bar, Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park only. The morning peak services will call additionally at New Barnet.
One morning and evening peak service will be extended to Royston to help cater for local schools.
As part of this change, the limited peak-only service of three trains each way between Letchworth Garden City and London King’s Cross, calling at Hitchin, Knebworth and Welwyn North introduced in December 2024 will be replaced by the wider service changes detailed above. The services departing Letchworth at 07:17, 07:45 and 08:17 and London King’s Cross at 17:24, 17:54 and 18:24 will be replaced.
Peterborough to London King’s Cross – Monday to Friday
There will be an additional service in the morning peak between Peterborough and London King’s Cross, calling at Huntingdon, St Neots, Biggleswade and Stevenage.
In the morning, the service will depart Peterborough at 05:43, arriving in London King’s Cross at 06:44.
The 08:05 service from Huntingdon will not run and passengers will need to use the 07:53 or 08:23 Thameslink service instead.
Welwyn Garden City / Stevenage via Hertford North to Moorgate - Monday to Friday
Some services will have minor timing changes to allow for better connections.
Two existing morning departures from Gordon Hill towards Moorgate will now start from Hertford North, calling at Bayford, Cuffley and Crews Hill additionally.
Key planned changes to Thameslink
Some Thameslink services will have minor timing changes to allow for better connections.