Train timetable shake-up 'could see house prices in some commuter towns fall by 15pc'

National Rail's train time table shake-up could knock as much as 15 per cent off house prices in commuter towns with reduced services, property experts have warned.  

Radical changes introduced to train times over the weekend have resulted in the number of services stopping at some stations by as much as 40 per cent, data shows.

Among the worst hit are commuter towns surrounding London including Preston Park, Leagrave East and Flitwick, which have all seen well over a third of their daily services cut. 

number of commuter towns surrounding London to lose nearly half of their train services, analysis of rail data shows, potentially reducing their viability as a place to commute from into the capital every day.

 Mark Hayward, chief executive at the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "By the very fact that these places are referred to as commuter towns, when you reduce their commutability it will have detrimental effect on house prices.

"Towns served by Southern Rail saw hose prices affected when it was disrupted by strikes, and it's likely the same will happen in towns badly affected by a reduction in service. The frequency and reliability of trains are paramount to commuter town's desirability.

"Those served well by trains are already on a premium, so they could fall by 10 per cent or 15 per cent in the worst cases. This time table change needs to be looked at because people have bought their houses on a false view of train services." 

A quarter of all stations in the UK face reduced services under the time table changes, losing an average of six trains a day, the data compiled by OpenTrainTimes revealed.

Some 13 per cent of stations saw a decrease in the number of peak-time services, while around half of stations which did see an increase in peak time services also saw a decline in overall services, meaning meaning options for travelling at non-peak (cheaper) times have been reduced.

Overall the South West was the hardest hit region with 35 per cent of stations seeing an overall decrease in services. 

It comes as commuters face weeks of disruption after the biggest rail timetable change in decades was brought in to introduce hundreds of faster trains.

Passengers have been told that some services will not be fully up and running until June or July because of delays getting the new trains and drivers in place.

The timetable changes, introduced from Sunday, follow track upgrades. Rail managers say that the changes, which affect 100,000 trains a week, will create a faster and more regular service.