New Year’s Day can be a rather hectic day for travel as countless people undertake journeys home after a night of partying and celebrations. For those who need to take the train around Kent on the first day of 2025, passengers have been advised that replacement buses will be in operation along several major routes.
Southeastern is currently running its Christmas and New Year’s timetable, which sees a number of alterations to normal schedules that passengers will need to be aware of. On most days, trains follow a Saturday timetable, meaning some services will depart at different times or less frequently.
On New Year’s Day, planned engineering works mean replacement buses will serve journeys between Folkestone Central and Deal, Canterbury East and Dover Priory, and Sevenoaks, Maidstone East and Ashford. Trains that are running on this date will be following a Sunday timetable.
All routes are planned to be open between Thursday, January 2 and Saturday, January 4. Further engineering works will then take place on Sunday, January 5 so replacement buses will again serve journeys on several key lines. See below for the full details.
Southeastern New Year’s timetable 2024/25
| Date | Changes to services |
| Tuesday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve) |
All routes will be open and running on the Saturday timetable, with additional trains on some routes. Additional late-night trains will run from Charing Cross, Victoria and London Bridge after midnight. There will be no trains from Waterloo East after 11.30pm. |
| Wednesday, January 1 (New Year’s Day) |
Most routes are open and running on a Sunday timetable except for engineering work where buses will replace trains between:
Off-peak fares will be available all day. |
| Thursday, January 2 and Friday, January 3 |
All routes will be open and running on the Saturday timetable, with additional trains on some routes. |
| Saturday, January 4 |
All routes will be open and running on the Saturday timetable. |
| Sunday, January 5 |
Normal Sunday timetable will be in use except for engineering work where buses will replace trains between:
|