c2c timetable from September

From Monday 6 September 2021 we will resume operating our Recovery Timetable, first introduced in April. This provides 85% of the total daily services we operated pre-Covid on weekdays, and a full service at the weekend. You can find our full timetable here.

• At peak times we are using all our carriages. All services now have a minimum of 8-carriages, unlike the pre-Covid timetable which included a number of 4-carriage trains. As a result a handful of services in the old timetable no longer run, with those carriages used to lengthen other trains instead
• At off-peak times, we are operating 2 trains per hour on all routes – via Basildon, via Ockendon and via Rainham. All daytime and evening services are formed of 8-carriages, unlike pre-Covid when we normally provided 4-carriage trains off-peak

Now that the school holidays have finished, we are reducing the off-peak service frequency via Basildon. We are sorry this will sometimes mean longer waits for those customers who do use those trains. This is necessary because passenger numbers remain significantly lower than they were pre-Covid. Passenger revenue has fallen sharply as a result, so we need to limit the cost of running the railway – especially as this is now paid for by taxpayers. These changes also improve our resilience and ability to deliver a reliable service, given the daily challenges and uncertainty we still face around staff availability.

This is in line with the guidance we have received from the Department for Transport, and mirrors the approach being taken by other train operators across the country.

We will continue to monitor demand levels on off-peak trains closely, and will consider adding other services when higher passenger numbers are likely, such as during school holidays.