TfL set to increase Elizabeth line service frequency from December
It’s that time of the year when forthcoming winter timetables start to appear showing the travelling public what service improvements – or cuts – are on the way after December.
This past week has seen most rail services trickle in and there’s some welcome news for Elizabeth line passengers as TfL plan to boost services across the day on Saturdays from 16 trains per hour to 20.
It would bring service levels almost up to those seen on weekday peaks and surpass current weekday off-peak levels, showing how popular weekend leisure travel now is.
It’s now two years since a peak time weekday level of 24 trains per hour begun in the core section between Paddington and Whitechapel. Off-peak is 16 per hour.
Of 20 trains throughout each hour Saturdays along the core, 10 will head to Abbey Wood via Canary Wharf and 8 to Shenfield, with two to Gidea Park.
Different approach to rail growth
While TfL make the most of weekend travel potential the same can’t be said for Southeastern under Westminster control – despite this government opposing cuts when in opposition.
With the December timetable starting 18 months after being elected, there’s few signs of reversing some previous changes.
Little in the way of improvements appear evident for Southeastern Metro services linking to the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood from north Kent – which is an underutilised opportunity seeing large housing growth.
There is still no turn-up-and-go service level of at least every 15 minutes between Dartford and Abbey Wood. Restoring two trains from Dartford to central London via Greenwich cut in 2022 would restore that level but it’s a no-show.
Greenwich still sees just two Southeastern services through the station as opposed to four before cuts in 2022, reducing overall levels to four (including two unreliable Thameslink services) from six per hour of which four were Southeastern Metro.
Other Southeastern Metro lines also see few improvements and lag behind service levels before cuts were introduced in 2022. One being the Victoria to Orpington Saturday services which remains every half an hour.
No initiative?
A lack of initiative and funding to entice growth shows a stark difference between TfL and central government on capitalising railway passenger growth opportunities.
Whitehall continues to block funding for improvements on National Rail now in charge despite a substantial rise in housing and population in areas such as north Kent. Renationalisation isn’t the fix-all some believe if the government of the day has little interest in funding service improvements.
It appears again that the Department for Transport and Treasury have little idea people might want to reach the incredibly popular Elizabeth line via Southeastern Metro services connecting to those looking to interchange. Not everywhere is within a (slow) bus ride.
Car parking is being discouraged around Abbey Wood. Parking zones are increasing with Bexley council planning two more in coming months yet services remain worse than levels seen for many years until 2022.
Other rail cuts
Though it’s not just railway services seeing a lack of ambition from government, as recently seen with government “pausing” a long-planned upgrade to Peckham Rye station shortly before work was to begin.
Peckham is another are in line for housing growth with Network Rail also claiming “Peckham Rye is the busiest interchange station in the entire country without step free access to platforms or accessible facilities for passengers.”
If it’s like other projects “paused” it either won’t happen, or it eventually does when pressure becomes too great and then costs substantially more and inconveniences many more people after new housing completes in the area.
As TfL showed in recent years if you provide it, people tend to use it. It’s still a lesson government ignore – though they are forcing above inflation fare rises on TfL for the next four years.
If like some Labour politicians you think operators going under government control alone is some absolute panacea, think again. As we’ve seen with Southeastern Metro, a capable management team are ultimately only as good as their paymasters and so far this government – like the previous that enforced cuts in 2022 – show little interest in it.
Ultimately both National Rail and TfL’s Elizabeth line are in public ownership. The difference however is evident between the two when it comes to funding and appetite to gain passenger growth.
Another bonus with increasing levels back to 6tph on the line through Greenwich would be to help while Cutty Sark DLR station is closed. Why aren’t they putting out ads informing tourists that Greenwich is 10 minutes from central London on Southeastern? A bit of commercial nous would go a long way. We know it’s easily possible to restore former levels as they’ve just done it during the Blackheath closure. Disinterested government again. What a shame this lot replicate the last.
This is the paradoxical problem, with rail in this country. The terms of privatisation means the TOCs had no long term stake in it, no interest in growing it beyond their remit, no interest in the future. And in public hands, the Treasury isn’t interested, as it favours road and air travel. It just sees rail as a cost that it begrudgingly has to meet, and only really understands it in terms of commuting. As does the Labour Party at a national level. So little interest in getting people on to it. Of course they all want to bask in the glow from Overground and Crossrail, because they are new and shiny and well publicised. How can we break the vicious circle with central govt controlling it. Needs to go to TFL.
Why not allow Elizabeth Line trains operating from Shenfield to terminate at Heathrow Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 and to terminate at Reading. Rather than terminating at Paddington.
Not to mention that TfL have ordered 10 more Class 345 trains that has added the total of 80 9-Car Class 345 trains on the Elizabeth Line and with future plans to extend the Elizabeth Line to Dartford and Gravesend.
Indeed including 345071-080
345071
345072
345073
345074
345075
345076
345077
345078
345079
345080
Any increases in frequencies are welcome on the Elizabeth Line. But I gree I would like to see more train services on fhe Woolwich and Greenwich Line with some services restored to Charing Cross Station.
It is not all good news though. Not only will some residents in Thamesmead and Abbey Wood will loose their 472 bus service from thier local bus stop to Abbey Wood Station when Superloop route SL11 introduced in 2026. Route 229 is going to loose one bus an hour from January 2026 when the 229’s frequency is reduced from 10 minutes to every 12 minutes. Reducing buses from 6 to 5 buses every hour.
10 more Class 345 trains are to be added onto the Elizabeth Line that would make the total of 80 9-Car trains on the Elizabeth Line. Perhaps Alstom should continue on manufacture more Class 710s including extra Class 710/1s to run 8-Car on the Weaver Lines.
As in to run 2x 4-Car trains operating between Liverpool Street-Cheshunt, Chingford and Enfield Town especially at rush hour and 1 Class 710/1 operating on the Liberty Line.
they do that already, but not on all services
Its good that the EL will have an increase but sadly its the chicken and the egg situation, SE won’t reinstate full services on the Woolwich line until they get passenger numbers up, problem being is that the timetable for the Woolwich and Greenwich lines is the worst ever, with only a bad Thameslink service and Cannon Street being the main terminal even though it’s unpopular plus no services to Lewisham and Blackheath on a Sunday is no wonder people who live along this corridor have abandoned SE and began using the EL
With no direct Charing Cross service the EL has become our only link into the West End as CST and Thameslink are city services and outside the peaks no one wants the city, SE refuse to admit that we want the West End, but sooner or later, they’ll have to improve services on the Woolwich line due to the population boom along that corridor.
Any news on the Paddington-Abbey Wood section or the Elizabeth line getting a train after midnight? It seems like such an easy win for businesses and the economy to run this line later. A 24 hour service over the weekend would do enormous things for the nighttime economy in Soho, Canary Wharf and Woolwich. Even running the last train out of London after 0030 would be a boon by increasing connectivity between residential areas and employment opportunities
And with 10 more Class 345s to be added to the Elizabeth Line to increase the capacity to 80 9-Car trains on the Elizabeth Line. And Class 345 ‘345071’ is in service and 9 more to be in service throughout this year (2026) and into next year (2027).