Timetable Changes

Ticketing Update - Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 2020

Due to technical issues, during Saturday and Sunday, we are unable to retail tickets for journeys on our Manchester to Bournemouth route (including intermediate stations) via our website and App. Some other online train ticket retailers are also affected.  

If you wish to purchase CrossCountry tickets online, then they can be purchased on the Chiltern Railways website here.

If you are looking to make a seat reservation for a ticket you’ve already purchased, you can use our Ten Minute Reservations service, information can be found here. 

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are working behind the scenes to restore full functionality as soon as possible.

Current Timetable Information

We are running a special timetable to keep services running throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The latest change to our timetable took place on Monday 7 September, please scroll to the bottom of this page for the timetable change detail.

Your safety is our number one priority. We ask that you follow our travel guidelines to keep yourself and others around you safe whilst travelling:

• • Travel at quieter times if possible. For information on when our services are quieter please visit our traffic light page
  • Wear a face covering when passing through stations and when travelling on-board. Please visit our face covering FAQs for more information.
  • Wash your hands before and after travelling

CrossCountry are operating many longer trains to provide up to twice the capacity and as the numbers travelling increases more time needs to be allowed at stations for people to board and alight. To achieve this while also maintaining the national railway timetable, a small number of stations have seen their CrossCountry services reduced or withdrawn to allow additional time at the more heavily used stations. Trains continue to operate throughout the day on most routes at a reduced frequency and in some cases with a revised calling pattern.

A minimum of one train per hour operates on the following routes:

• • • Manchester Piccadilly – Reading (some trains extend to or from Bournemouth)
    • Bristol Temple Meads – Newcastle (some trains extend to or from Penzance, Plymouth, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central or Aberdeen).
    • Birmingham New Street – Leicester (some trains extend to or from Cambridge or Stansted Airport).
    • Nottingham – Birmingham New Street (some trains extend to or from Cardiff Central).

Only a very limited CrossCountry service calls at:

No CrossCountry services call at the following stations:

Other train companies’ trains continue to serve these stations.

Some last trains may be earlier than normal and we recommend you check your journey before you travel by using National Rail Enquiries, our Train Tickets app, or viewing our timetables below:

From Monday 7 September 2020 until further notice - Birmingham New Street to Leicester, Cambridge and Stansted Airport

From Monday 7 September 2020 until further notice - All other routes

Timetables for future dates shall appear here closer to the time (normally on a Monday for the following weekend).

Route Map from Monday 21 September (note - services at weekends may also be affected by engineering work)

Download the map here (PDF)

Timetable changes from Monday 7 September

As we prepare for more people returning to work and education over the coming weeks, we have made some changes where we can support this additional demand. This includes returning to some stations for the first time since March.

Additional services from Monday 7 September:

• • Two-hourly services calling at Chesterfield on Saturday and Sunday afternoons
  • Limited re-introduction of calls at Arbroath, Montrose and Stonehaven (once line to Aberdeen is reopened)
  • Re-introduction of 07:00 service from Dunbar to Edinburgh
  • Additional late evening service at Attenborough and Spondon
  • Additional afternoon school-time service calling at Lydney and Chepstow

Passenger Assist

We are still operating both booked and un-booked Passenger Assistance services for those passengers that require this, although we are encouraging customers to book ahead so we can ensure the correct provision of assistance is provided.

It will really help us to plan and make sure you receive the correct help if you pre-book your assistance. When you contact our Passenger Assistance team they may ask you some extra questions so that we can ensure that we balance your needs with the opportunity to respect social distancing requirements, so please allow a little more time to make your booking.

If you have not pre-booked assistance, please allow extra time for your journey and follow signage and instructions from station and train staff.

CrossCountry are supporting the National Rail Industry Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme. Not all disabilities are visible and some won’t be immediately obvious to our colleagues on-board our trains. The Hidden Disability Sunflower, which is usually worn in the form of a lanyard, is a discreet way for us to be aware that support may be required from us throughout a customer’s journey. If you would like to obtain a lanyard, you can get one from most staffed stations or online via the scheme. We appreciate that if you are already part of this scheme, wearing a face covering may not be possible. If you need more information referring to this, please follow the guidance provided on GovUK, which can be found here.

Ticket arrangements

If you are making a journey with us we strongly advise that you book a seat on the train, as availability is limited due to social distancing. If you don’t book a seat, you may not be able to travel on your preferred service. You can book your seat when you book online with us or when you buy your train ticket.

If you already have a ticket but do not have a seat reserved for your chosen train, or need to amend your booked seat, please contact our Customer Relations team on 03447 369 123 or contact our Social Media team via Twitter or Facebook Messenger

If you have any queries and your travel is within the next week, you can also tweet us @CrossCountryUK or message us via Facebook Messenger, where we are available 24 hours a day.

Advance booking dates

Please note, due to an update to our internal reservation systems, we are currently running a reduced advance booking window. We are working hard on a daily basis to open bookings back up again, the table below provides the latest date you are currently able to book to. We apologise for any inconvenience caused, please check back for updates.

(last updated: 10:25 Friday 18 September 2020)