South Western Railway announces new train timetable

The new timetable will come into effect on Sunday, June 2, with large-scale changes for passengers travelling between Portsmouth and London Waterloo, and Southampton Central and Portsmouth.

Services between Portsmouth and London Waterloo via Guildford, between Monday and Saturday, will be retimed in both directions, in conjunction with changes to Southern services between Brighton, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Central.

SEE ALSO: Potholes, immigration and housing - here's what matters to voters this local election

The changes will also allow more time for SWR customers to make connections between train and ferry services at Portsmouth Harbour.

Changes are as follows:

• Fast services from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo will depart at 15 minutes past the hour
• Stopping services from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo will depart at 33 minutes past the hour
• On Saturdays, fast services from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo will depart at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. Stopping services from Portsmouth & Southsea will depart at 37 minutes past the hour

There will also be three minor changes to morning peak services between Portsmouth and London Waterloo, as follows: 

• The 0624 from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo via Basingstoke will call additionally at Farnborough Main
• The 0642 from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo via Guildford will call additionally at Woking
• The 1003 from Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo via Guildford will no longer call at Woking

Services between Southampton Central and Portsmouth and Southsea via Netley will be significantly retimed, again, in conjunction with changes to Southern services.

• Services from Southampton Central will depart 16 minutes earlier than the current timetable, at 28 minutes past the hour
• Services from Portsmouth & Southsea will depart eight minutes later, at 46 minutes past the hour

Following these changes to services between Southampton and Portsmouth, an additional service has been created to run from Fareham to London Waterloo, departing at 0749.

In response to changing travel patterns, two services to London Waterloo via Epsom will be changed:

• The 0630 from Dorking to London Waterloo will depart eight minutes earlier than the current timetable, at 0622 
• The 0558 from Guildford to London Waterloo will depart 30 minutes later, at 0628

Basingstoke to London Waterloo stopping services, which depart at 24 minutes past the hour, will call additionally at Clapham Junction, while services that depart at 54 minutes past the hour will no longer call at Clapham Junction.

• The 0644  from Southampton Central to London Waterloo will call additionally at Weybridge.
• The 0924  from London Waterloo to Alton will call additionally at Clapham Junction.
• The 2335 from Guildford to Aldershot will depart 20 minutes later, at 2355, and will be extended to Farnham.

On Sundays, some early morning services that start and terminate at Richmond will be altered, starting and terminating at Clapham Junction or London Waterloo instead, while some services that start at Clapham Junction will start at London Waterloo instead.

Steve Tyler, South Western Railway’s performance and planning director, said: "Our June 2024 timetable is the result of careful planning, taking into account our customers’ travel patterns and changes by other train operators on our network.

"To provide customers with a more reliable timetable, and in response to Southern’s West Coastway timetable changes, we’re making significant changes between Portsmouth and London Waterloo, and between Southampton Central and Portsmouth.

"We have also made a small number of changes to other services on our network, so it’s really important that customers check to see if their journeys have been retimed. Journey planners for services from Sunday 2 June are now showing the retimed services, so we advise customers to check now."