Chiltern Railways is urging customers to check before they travel as it introduces a timetable change on Sunday 2 June.
The operator has added an additional morning and evening train service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for commuters in Buckinghamshire. These services have been designed to to relieve capacity on other morning services and provide more seats during the busiest times of the week.
The extra morning train will run from Princes Risborough and call at High Wycombe and Beaconsfield before reaching London Marylebone, with the extra evening journey from London Marylebone calling at High Wycombe and Princes Risborough.
This means that on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, an additional 380 seats each morning and evening will be provided to Buckinghamshire customers at the busiest time of day. The additional service is expected to reduce crowding at peak times and provide a beginning to end journey separate from Chiltern’s Birmingham and Oxford commuter services.
The operator is constrained by how much additional capacity can be added due to the average age of the fleet – 30 years – which is now the oldest in the country. Chiltern is working hard to achieve its Right Route 2030 vision, working closely with the Department for Transport and other industry partners to secure a new capacity-boosting fleet of trains.
Andy Camp, Commercial & Customer Strategy Director at Chiltern Railways, said:
“I know that this extra service for customers in Buckinghamshire will be well used, and will hopefully relieve some of the crowding issues that we have seen on the network during peak times in the middle of the week. It is a step in the right direction as we work hard with industry partners to increase capacity by renewing our fleet, which is now the oldest in the country.
“On other parts of the route, there may be slight changes to train times, so please do check ahead on the Chiltern Railways website or app before travelling.”
A small number of services will see times changing by a few minutes with the aim of improving overall punctuality and accommodating the extra peak-time service. Some stopping patterns will also be altered.
The 17:37 departure from London Marylebone to Birmingham will leave at 17:33 on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, while the 17:45 departure from London Marylebone to Oxford will call at Beaconsfield, and not call at High Wycombe, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Customers should check ahead before they travel to see if their train times have changed from Sunday 2 June.
For full information about changes to train times across the route, customers can visit https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/jun24timetable.
