Changes to services - October half term school holidays

Last updated: 14 September 2026

Why are we making these temporary changes?

We are building on the approach taken in previous school holidays by temporarily aligning some of our Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services with the changes in usage that we see over holiday periods.

Travel patterns tend to change as fewer people use peak time services and demand for off-peak services changes, where some routes see fewer people travel during the day, or demand for early morning trains to key airports increases as people go on holiday.

To respond to those changes, will be making temporary timetable amendments across our network from Saturday 24 October until Saturday 31 October.

A summary of the changes can be found below. These amendments do not include any that may be made due to planned engineering work, so we advise that you check your journey before travelling. Journey planners have been updated and are showing correctly for the holiday period.

The changes we are making

Some of the temporary changes we are making to services include:

Great Northern

The following services will run with 4 cars instead of 8 throughout the period:

0449 King’s Lynn to London King’s Cross

0517 King’s Lynn to London King’s Cross

0654 London King’s Cross to King’s Lynn

0724 London King’s Cross to King’s Lynn

The following service will run with 8 cars instead of 12 throughout the period:

0715 King’s Lynn to London King’s Cross

The following services will be amended throughout the period:

0835 London King’s Cross to Cambridge – will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden

0935 London King’s Cross to Cambridge – will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden

1024 Cambridge to London King’s Cross – will be retimed to depart at 1022 and will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden

1124 Cambridge to London King’s Cross – will be retimed to depart at 1122 and will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden

1406 London King’s Cross to Cambridge – will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden

1557 Cambridge to London King’s Cross – will be retimed to depart at 1551 and will call additionally at Ashwell & Morden and Baldock

1627 London King’s Cross to Letchworth Garden City – will be extended to Cambridge calling at Baldock, Ashwell & Morden, Royston, Meldreth, Shepreth, Foxton and Cambridge South

Southern

The following trains will not run throughout the period:

0756 London Victoria to East Croydon

0840 East Croydon to London Victoria

0655 London Victoria to Epsom

1755 London Victoria to Epsom

1825 London Victoria to Epsom

1I05 0653 Epsom to London Victoria

1I07 0723 Epsom to London Victoria

0846 London Victoria to Sutton

0941 Sutton to Selhurst

1632 Selhurst to London Victoria

0733 Norwood Junction to London Bridge

0833 Norwood Junction to London Bridge

0903 Norwood Junction to London Bridge

1710 London Bridge to Sutton

1740 London Bridge to Sutton

0703 Uckfield to London Bridge

0702 Bognor Regis to London Bridge

1803 London Bridge to Bognor Regis

0605 Littlehampton to London Bridge

1733 London Bridge to Littlehampton

0647 Eastbourne to London Bridge

1703 London Bridge to Eastbourne

The following trains will be amended throughout the period:

0631 London Bridge to Selhurst – will no longer call at Norbury or Thornton Heath

0731 London Bridge to Selhurst – will no longer call at Norbury or Thornton Heath

0700 Sutton to London Bridge – will start from Selhurst

0800 Sutton to London Bridge – will start from Selhurst

1741 London Victoria to Horsham – will terminate at Dorking

Thameslink

The following services will not run throughout the period:

0740 Haywards Heath to Bedford

0856 Three Bridges to Bedford

1256 Three Bridges to Bedford

1356 Three Bridges to Bedford

1826 Three Bridges to Luton

0633 Bedford to Three Bridges

1032 Bedford to Three Bridges

1132 Bedford to Three Bridges

1602 Bedford to Three Bridges

2029 Luton to Gatwick Airport

0739 Brighton to Cambridge

1314 Brighton to Cambridge

1414 Brighton to Cambridge

1844 Brighton to Cambridge

1021 Cambridge to Brighton

1121 Cambridge to Brighton

1551 Cambridge to Brighton

Services between Rainham and Luton, in both directions, will not run during this period, with the exception of these amended services:

0530 Rainham to Luton – will terminate at West Hampstead Thameslink

0630 Rainham to Luton – will terminate at West Hampstead Thameslink

1517 Luton to Rainham - will start from West Hampstead Thameslink

1617 Luton to Rainham – will start from West Hampstead Thameslink

1717 Luton to Rainham – will start from West Hampstead Thameslink

1817 Luton to Rainham – will start from West Hampstead Thameslink

The following service will also be amended throughout the period:

0800 Orpington to Luton – will terminate at West Hampstead Thameslink

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