GREAT WESTERN Railway’s summer timetable is due to start today (18 May). Seasonal changes are being made to reflect the increase in leisure journeys over summer and includes increasing services for connections to Gatwick to support international travel to and from the UK.
Mark Hopwood, GWR Managing Director, said: “These changes form the first part of GWR’s long-held ambition to better match train timetables with flight arrivals and departures.
“There will be two additional weekday services at 2059 and 2159 from Gatwick to Reading, helping to provide more direct trains for later evening flights.”
A third service, the 2022 train from Reading to Shalford, is also extended to Gatwick Airport.
Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer, London Gatwick, added: “As we continue to grow as an airport, it is pivotal that we continue to work with partners such as Great Western Railway to invest in boosting sustainable transport options for our passengers and local communities.
“GWR’s additional later services to Reading will further support an already vital service, providing even better connectivity and sustainable options for passengers and staff travelling to and from London Gatwick.”
Further afield, the scenic Looe Valley is also set to benefit from a major timetable overhaul to improve connectivity for locals and visitors alike.
Developed together with the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, the changes aim to improve the travel experience by improving connection times at Liskeard to and from Plymouth and Cornwall.
Currently connections for Looe services to key trains at Liskeard quite often have more than 20 minutes in both directions. This will come down by more than half on several services making it easier for both local leisure journeys and for business travel to London. The last weekday train will also leave Looe at 2155, 18 minutes later than previously.
Richard Burningham, Manager of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, said: “Many thanks to GWR for making these changes to the Looe Valley Line timetable from May. We firmly believe the new service will encourage more people to take the train to and from Looe, something that will benefit the town, area and local businesses.”
Supporting the increase in leisure travel, a key Sunday services between Worcester and Paddington will be formed of nine carriages instead of five, building on improvements made between Paddington and the North Cotswolds last December.
Looking ahead GWR have also added some additional calls at Saltash to help with customers switching to rail from road during work on the Saltash road tunnels planned for later this year.
With a significant remodelling of CrossCountry train’s timetable, there will also be some changes to GWR’s service between Cardiff and Penzance. GWR will operate Penzance to Exeter direct and Exeter to Cardiff (Taunton to Cardiff on Sundays). CrossCountry maintains direct services to Taunton, Bristol and beyond.
