UK Rail Industry Launches New December 2025 Timetable

The UK rail network has introduced timetable changes across other parts of the national network, effective from Sunday 14 December 2025.

Notably, changes on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) mark the most extensive revision to services on the corridor in more than ten years. This reflects a decade of investment totalling 4 billion GBP, including delivery of the East Coast Upgrade.

The new timetable is intended to provide additional capacity, improve journey times and expand the range of direct connections for passengers travelling between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland. According to the industry, the package of changes will add more than 60,000 seats across the route each week.

Key adjustments on the East Coast Main Line include:

Revised long-distance services : Daytime weekday services between Newcastle and London King’s Cross increase by 46%, enhancing links between the North East, Yorkshire, Scotland and the capital. Journey times on some services will reduce by around 15 minutes between London and Edinburgh, and by around 10 minutes on selected London–Newcastle and Edinburgh–York trains.

Expanded Sunday provision : LNER will operate six services in each direction on Sundays between Bradford Forster Square and London King’s Cross.

Future calls at Cambridge South : Passing services run by Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink and CrossCountry will call at the forthcoming Cambridge South station once it opens in summer 2026.

Additional regional services : Northern will introduce an hourly fast service between Leeds and Sheffield, along with more trains between Middlesbrough and Newcastle. TransPennine Express will increase its Newcastle–Edinburgh Waverley service to eight trains per day in each direction from Monday to Saturday, with seven each way on Sundays.

More frequent East Midlands Railway services : The Nottingham–Lincoln route will move from one to two trains per hour between Monday and Saturday, providing more than 2,000 extra weekday seats and around 2,500 additional seats on Saturdays.

Ellie Burrows, Eastern regional managing director, Network Rail, said:

The industry has been preparing for many years for the new timetable, which will unlock thousands more seats, more frequent trains, and quicker journeys along the East Coast Main Line. Our priority now is to continue working together to deliver the long-term benefits of this timetable change, the biggest in over a decade, for our passengers and the communities we serve.

Across the wider network, changes include more Avanti West Coast services from London Euston, particularly on the London–Liverpool route, and additional open-access services from Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo. Provision has also been made for a future Stirling–London Euston service.

Transport for Wales will introduce two trains per hour between Chester and Wrexham from Monday to Saturday. It will also implement a new timetable on the Heart of Wales line between Swansea and Shrewsbury, increasing the number of through services to five per day, alongside its first Sunday service to Coryton.

While most changes will take effect in December 2025, a small number of services will be phased in during 2026 to support a stable introduction.

Passengers are advised to check the latest information with their train operator or through the National Rail Journey Planner before travelling.