If all you want for Christmas is even more train journeys across the UK to choose from, then you’re in luck. Network Rail has just rolled out a huge update to rail timetables across the country.
The revamp launched on December 14 and includes the biggest upgrade to the East Coast Main Line timetable in a decade. With help from £4bn worth of funding over the last ten years, journeys are now even faster and more frequent – the last time we saw this level of change to the UK’s train timetables was in 2018.
As of this week, there are nearly double the number of weekday trains between Newcastle and London King’s Cross, a new new hourly fast service with Northern between Leeds and Sheffield, additional services between Middlesbrough and Newcastle, and six LNER services in each direction between Bradford Forster Square and London King’s Cross every Sunday.
On top of that, Network Rail has boosted TransPennine Express services between Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley to eight trains per day (each direction) from Monday to Saturday and seven trains each way on Sunday. There are also two trains per hour between Nottingham and Lincoln Monday to Saturday instead of just one. All passing services operated by Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink and CrossCountry will stop by the new Cambridge South station when it opens in summer 2026.
Thanks to the changes, the entire East Coast Main Line has more than 60,000 extra seats available each week. Journey times along the route are faster, too. The trip from London to Edinburgh has gone down by 15 minutes, and London to Newcastle and Edinburgh to York have both gone down by 10 minutes.
And there’s more! Elsewhere on the UK’s rail network there are now more Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Liverpool, more independent services from Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo, including provision for a new Stirling to London Euston service and more Transport for Wales trains between Chester and Wrexham and between Swansea and Shrewsbury.
Peter Hendy, the UK rail minister, said: ‘This is the biggest timetable change on the East Coast Main Line in more than a decade, and it marks a major step forward for passengers and communities.
‘Thanks to £4 billion of investment, we’re delivering faster journeys, thousands of extra seats, more cheap fares, and better connections across the country – and it is needed, with the North East seeing the highest growth in rail passenger journeys in the UK last year.
‘These improvements won’t just make travel easier – they’ll open up access to jobs, unlock new homes, and create opportunities for growth along the route.’
Don’t miss: The busiest travel days predicted for Christmas 2025.
Plus: An ‘international’ train station just outside London has had a £1 million refurb.
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