More trains throughout Saturday’s coming to the Elizabeth line from next month
Good news everyone as it’s now less than a month until Transport for London improve service levels across the Elizabeth line every Saturday from the December timetable change.
In a boost for the leisure market, Saturday daytime frequency levels will rise from 16 trains per hour to 20 in the core which will even surpass weekday off-peak levels.
It’s not quite at weekday peak service frequencies of 24 per hour but nothing to be sniffed at. In total they’ll be 10 trains per hour on both the Abbey Wood and Shenfield branches combining for 20 through central London.
It’s also curiously different to National Rail services in London which often remain at low levels after cuts.
To give an example, cuts in 2022 meant Southeastern services from Victoria to Orpington on a Saturday dropped back from four to two per hour and will remain every 30 minutes in the next timetable running until May 2026 rather than the prior 15 minute service interval. It’s a line that serves busy towns such as Brixton.
While service levels will not improve on Sundays for the Elizabeth line, at least they’re still frequent. Again, compare that to Southeastern Metro where the route from the Woolwich line via Lewisham remains cut entirely.
Southeastern have been pretty open as to why that is in meetings with a number of local authorities: the Department for Transport who control Southeastern since 2021 set service levels, fares and much else and will not fund it. Expect another above inflation fare increase soon.
Labour opposed those cuts in opposition but now they’re in power have retained many. See this from 2022.
That’s the housing minister above by the way. You may have thought with new housing near stations improved services would be welcomed. It appears not.
This also sprung to mind with plans for housing beside Blackheath station. A comment on this site earlier spoke about someone in Woolwich meeting someone in Blackheath who travelled in from Kidbrooke. They’d met for lunch and it highlights how new homes and transport links can support business with the loss of parking.
It then occurred to me if ding so on a Sunday, they couldn’t do that on direct trains from Woolwich after recent cuts. Yep, the same Woolwich with thousands of new homes. Not enough to permit government to restore cuts.
It’s not just Blackheath that no longer sees a direct rail service on a Sunday from Abbey Wood, Plumstead, Woolwich and Charlton but those sleepy towns of Lewisham and New Cross.
And the 180 bus to Lewisham no longer runs there – which is on TfL. One wonders if rail and buses were operated by the same organisation that wouldn’t happen.
Cuts remain
Cuts are also an issue that impacts Kidbrooke station services throughout the week.
Two trains to Charing Cross along the line per hour running off-peak before 2022 were cut to zero. Now it’s one train per hour. This December just two extra services in the evening will return but most of the day it remains a solitary service per hour.
For all this government’s mantra of growth and “build baby build” and “support the builders not the blockers” their transport strategy and keeping cuts is completely at odds.
It all again shows the vast difference between TfL and the Labour government at Westminster running the Department for Transport and their Treasury masters. TfL – for all their flaws – at least push for better rail services a lot of the time. See how they restored timetables post-covid on London Overground. Ridership bounced back quickly to pre-covid levels by 2022. They’re also now back in surplus.
The Department for Transport under the Conservatives and now Labour? Cuts pushed and then sustained to the detriment of new housing, residents and business in busy cities. Passenger growth then lags. Revenue remains sluggish. Who would have thought.
And it’s not only with services as this government also recently cut a long planned station upgrade at Peckham Rye. That’d be the station with around 1,000 new homes on the cards nearby, and which according to Network Rail is “the busiest interchange station in the entire country without step free access to platforms or accessible facilities for passengers.”
A government driving for growth? Scant sign of it in many areas.
TfL? Some much welcome moves such as this upcoming Liz line increase.
Excellent news. Any improvement to public transport services are very much welcomed.
Especially as we are going to see an increase in the congestion charge from January 2026 witb owners of electric cars having to pay the congestion charge for the first time.
Excellent news. Any improvement to public transport services are very much welcomed.
Especially as we are going to see an increase in the congestion charge from January 2026 with owners of electric cars having to pay the congestion charge for the first time.
What is really needed is an increase in the number of sevices to and from Heathrow, if only at peak, as these are congested, and when luggage is added, they become distinctly unpleasant and not a great advert for London.
And with 10 more Class 345 trains that are currently being manufactured and to enter service on the Elizabeth Line next year and to cope with more extra passengers and extra capacity on the core section.
10 more Class 345 trains are expected to enter service in early 2026 once they have been built. And to add more extra capacity on the Central section (Stratford/Abbey Wood-Paddington) and some to run to Reading to/from Abbey Wood and Shenfield (4tph).
I remember training to work at MTR Elizabeth Line based at Old Oak Common. Those of us who were mixed race, or born overseas or were gay, went straight to back of the queue for training; and when the next group of trainees came along, half of them skipped the queue and went straight into training with Instructors while we were still sitting in the queue.
Funnily enough, almost all the straight white british trainees were placed immediately with Instructors and never sat in the queue.
Some might say there was rampant discrimination in the training department of MTR ELizabeth Line in 2019.