Cuts to Thameslink services during school holidays were first reported by Greenwich Wire in late May 2026 https://greenwichwire.co.uk/2026/05/27/thameslink-summer-rail-train-cuts-greenwich/ (Photo credit to Greenwich Wire).

Despite objections from the Westcombe Society and the Greenwich Line Users Group Thameslink are again reducing services on the Greenwich Line during October half-term.  We advise passengers to check before they travle by train between 24 and 30 October.

Thameslink say:

For the six days on Saturday 24 October and between Monday 26 and Friday 30 October, the October half term school holiday, there will be an amended timetable in place on the route between Luton, London and Rainham.

As when we made these changes over the summer school holiday, Thameslink services will still be half-hourly during the weekday peaks to support people to travel to/from work as the trains are busier, but services will then run hourly during the middle of the day and on Saturday when fewer people travel.

For most journeys, alongside the Thameslink service there will also still be alternative Southeastern services to enable customers to complete their journeys, but we fully understand that for some it will mean a change of train to complete a journey faster or a longer than usual wait, and we are sorry for the impact this will have.

This change to Rainham’s Thameslink service is part of a wider set of changes being made across the Thameslink, Great Northern and Southern network over the school half-term which, depending on the route, is seeing changes to the number of peak and off-peak trains that operate.

As with the summer school holiday, these amendments are designed to better align the number of services we operate with the changes in travel patterns that we see over school holiday periods – where usage falls by 6% across the network as a whole, and by 15% in the peak periods. We see similar changes in usage and revenue on the Rainham line.

The industry faces a continued challenge in reducing its reliance on taxpayer subsidies which means operators are looking at where the services they run are more lightly used and whether the level of service meets the level of demand over quieter parts of the year as lightly used trains do place the cost of their operation on the taxpayer.

Bringing operational costs more in line with the revenue services bring in helps to unlock savings that can be used to support the operation of services overall across the year and supports GTR, and Thameslink services on this line, to become more financially self-sustainable.

These changes across the network to services will support subsidy reduction, and are part of a wider package of demand generation, revenue raising and efficiency measures we are delivering across the network.

At the same time, we are also continuing to deliver improvements to performance and the on-board experience – such as the 75% reduction in traincrew related cancellations we have seen on the Rainham route this year or the new and more comfortable seats coming to Thameslink trains from next year – that will help to improve every day journeys for customers.