Chiltern Railways to add extra carriages to busiest services in May timetable
From Sunday 15th May, a new timetable comes into effect across the Chiltern Railways network.
As rail passenger numbers continue to recover, now surpassing 75% of pre-pandemic levels, pressure has been placed on commuter services arriving into London during peak times.
Since the last timetable update, Chiltern Railways has been continuously monitoring passenger levels and taking customer feedback on overcrowded services into consideration, ensuring that this update provides more carriages to key services that have previously been at risk of overcrowding.
As Chiltern uses all of its available rolling stock, some lesser-used services have been shortened to reflect passenger demand, while still ensuring that all passengers have a comfortable journey.
Improvements (Monday-Friday)
- The 06:10 from Birmingham Moor Street to Marylebone will be extended to a six-carriage service (around 70 extra seats).
- The 06:22 from Bicester North to Marylebone will be extended to a six-carriage service (around 100 extra seats).
- The 06:33 from Birmingham Moor Street to Marylebone will be extended to a four-carriage service (around 70 extra seats).
- The 06:43 from Oxford to Marylebone cannot be further extended from six carriages, however, a train starting at High Wycombe (07:21) will aim to relieve pressure on this service, which is currently our busiest. Platform announcements at High Wycombe and Beaconsfield will encourage customers to board the new service.
- The 07:43 from Oxford to Marylebone will be extended to a five-carriage service (around 90 extra seats).
We monitor crowding levels on every service, and the formation changes in this new timetable have been calibrated to relieve pressure on 'pinch-point' trains. We will continue to monitor crowding levels, and will make further interventions where we are able to do so.
Minor changes to departures (Monday-Friday)
- The 22:04 service from Marylebone to Oxford will now depart at 22:01 and now calls at High Wycombe to relieve pressure on the 22:10 Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street.
- The 22:13 service from Marylebone to Aylesbury will now depart at 22:11.
You can access a full version of our new timetable by visiting the Chiltern Railways website.
Contact Information
Matt Turner
Notes to editors
About Chiltern
- Chiltern Railways is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing 53,000 people and delivering 2 billion passenger journeys a year across 14 European countries. Arriva are part of Deutsche Bahn (DB), one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics companies, responsible for DB's passenger transport services outside Germany.
- Chiltern operates commuter/regional rail passenger services from its Central London terminus at London Marylebone along the M40 corridor to destinations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, as well as long-distance services to the West Midlands along two routes. Services on the Chiltern Main Line run from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford, with some peak-hour services to Kidderminster.
- Chiltern also runs trains on the London to Aylesbury Line to Aylesbury (with some trains terminating at Aylesbury Vale Parkway instead), on the Princes Risborough to Aylesbury and Oxford to Bicester branch lines.